


Not What I Was Looking for, But Glad I Found it

by ogeemattyb



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Full Shift Werewolves, Hale Family Feels, Kitsune Stiles, Like Extreamly Slow Build, M/M, Major Cannon shift, POV Stiles, Seasons one and two done, Slow Build, Stiles gets kidnapped alot, Stilinski Family Feels, Will tag more as I go, badass!Stiles, one dub-con scene (Nothing major)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-01-26 17:26:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1696436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ogeemattyb/pseuds/ogeemattyb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is a Fox Spirit, and his best friend was just turned into a werewolf. Life is going to get a whole lot more interesting around Beacon Hills now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or </p>
<p>The one where Stiles was a Kitsune from the get go, and how that completely changed everything that happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How Everything Changed

**Author's Note:**

> So after the whole Possessed!Stiles thing, I had this great Idea for what if Stiles was a Kitsune before the whole werewolf shit went down. I have yet to read one that is like this, so I thought I would write it. There are conversations and parts that are thrown in here from the series, but I am changing a lot of things, so not everything is happening in the right order or is happening at all. In fact, when I get to season two, things are not going to be the same like at all. So please stick with me through the rough parts cause I think this could be something good, or at least I hope you will think it is.

Growing up as a Kitsune hasn’t been the easiest of experiences, especially without the help of my mother. She died when I was eleven years old, fighting off a Nogitsune. A Void Spirit. My mother was of the Heaven Clan. There are thirteen kinds of Kitsune spirits and not all of them are good, but my mother, she was one of the strongest. She was just over seven hundred years old, something my father never really could wrap his head around, and she fought the Void to save the whole town. But in the end, it took her life to finish the task she set out to do. I was too young to help her; my powers were only just starting to show. But I have used what she has taught me and have hidden myself from everything. Natural and supernatural. 

My father knows what I am. He knew what my mother was. But he has always been a bit intimidated by the whole supernatural world. Now that we really have nothing to do with it, I think he is happier. But I can tell he misses my mother every day. I haven’t told anyone what I am because my mother always told me not to. I am Forest Kitsune, and the need to run in the woods is sometimes so great that I have to hole myself up in my closet just to contain myself. I don’t tell dad any of what is going on with me in that aspect. I know he would listen if I did tell him, but I think that he just wants to turn a blind eye to the whole thing. 

Nevertheless my curiosity often gets me into trouble. Like now, here I am listening into my father’s phone conversation about a dead body out in the woods. And instead of listening to the rational part of my brain, I let the fox take some control and go over to find Scott so that we can go look for it. 

“Stiles, what the hell are you doing?”

“You weren’t answering your phone.” So I only called once. He won’t know that. “Why do you have a bat?” and he does. A wood bat that he is brandishing threateningly. I am still hanging upside down from where I fell to get to his window, but its’ kind of fun, so I don’t mind.

“I thought you were a predator.” At this I can’t help but laugh. While some Kitsune could be considered just that, I am far from a predator. 

When I finally get myself under control again, Scott is looking at me weird. This is nothing new to our relationship so I don’t make a fuss about it. “Look, I know it’s late, but you gotta hear this. I heard my dad on the phone like twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called. They are bringing in like every officer from the Beacon Department, and even state police.”

“For what?” The fact that he hasn’t yet commented that I am still hanging upside down just goes to show how good of a friend he is.

“Two joggers found a body in the woods.” I pull myself up so I can jump down to the ground. I make it a bit less graceful than what I am truly capable of. So far I have portrayed myself as this spastic, flaily kid, and part of that is true, but when I really want to be I could be nimble and fluid as well.

“A dead body?”

“No, a body of water. Yes, dumb-ass, a dead body.” Then I jump up so I am on the porch with him as we continue our conversation. 

“You mean like murdered?”

“Nobody knows yet. Just that it was a girl, probably in her twenties.”

“Hold on,” Really? I want to go now! “if they found the body then what are they looking for?”

“That’s the best part. They only found half.” I pause for dramatic effect, and there is a look of shock on his face. “We’re going.” It takes some more convincing to get him to come. But after I make the argument that he just said last week that nothing exciting ever happens here, he put away the bat and locked up his house. His mom is working the night shift and we should make it back before she gets home. Dad won’t be too happy that we are out there, so I have to make sure not to get caught.

The drive out to the preserve is filled with anxiousness and Scott’s weariness. I can tell that he wants to go back, but at the same time wants to find out what is going on too. 

As we get out of the jeep and enter the tree line, all of my senses are instantly on high alert. There is something out there, and now I just want to go back, but Scott has already started to make his way into the woods. “Scott, I think this was a bad idea. We should go home. You’ve been saying how you want to get on first line this year, so maybe we should go so you can get a full night’s sleep before practice tomorrow.” It is true. He has been saying how he wants to get better at lacrosse so he can get on first line, but I don’t know how he will seeing as he is a severe asthmatic. 

“Dude, you are the one who dragged me out here. Now you’re having second thoughts?” He just scoffs at me and keeps walking. I can’t leave him out here alone, so I go after him hoping that nothing will happen to us. He stays ahead of me pulling the flashlight from my hand. Really it is only him that needs it anyway. Being a Kitsune has some great perks, amazing eyesight, superb hearing, increased healing, enhanced speed, and incredible reflexes. All of that is better than a wolf’s, as in werewolf, but a wolf has a better sense of smell, and greater strength than I could ever hope to possess. Also, I am not pulled by the moon and have the ability to create Fox Fire. Really, all I have used this for is to create little balls of light to amuse myself with at night when I can’t sleep. It can be used as a weapon though should the need arise. The illusions that my mother made are not within my wheelhouse yet. Sometimes I can make them, but they don’t keep for very long. The fox form is something that I only just started mastering in the last year. Dad doesn’t even know that I can do it yet. Mostly I stay holed up in my closet when I am transformed. There is no half shape for me like there is for a wolf, and for that I am grateful. The last power I have is not one that I will ever use. It is a form of mind control, and I could never use that on someone. To take someone’s free will is the ultimate evil in my book. I know how to do it, kind of, but will never put it into practice. If I can’t talk my way out of situation, then I don’t deserve to get out of it. 

“Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?” Scott keeps walking forward, but turns his head to ask me.

“Uh, I’m not really sure.” 

“And, what if whoever killed the body is still out here?”

“I didn’t think about that? Maybe we should turn around and go home. We can forget this ever happened.”

He laughs and keeps going forward, slowly climbing up an embankment. “It’s comforting to know you’ve planned this out with your usual attention to detail.” He is wheezing a little by the time we reach the top and takes a quick puff from his inhaler before I pull him to the ground. There are flashlights moving towards us and I really want to just take him and get the hell out of there.

He gets up to start running parallel to the sweep coming our way. As I start to follow him I hear another sound deeper in the woods. There is a panting with a low growl accompanied by quick steps through the underbrush. It’s the wolf. I turn to grab Scott and get the hell out of there, but he is gone. So I start to listen for him and try to pick up his scent. It is faint, and I can’t get a grasp on it with all the other people moving through the trees. “Scott!” I whisper/yell his name, but get no response. So I start to race through the trees after him. I can’t leave him to get mauled. I just hope I find him first.

Just as I am coming around a tree I am taken off guard by a dog and a deputy. I fall gracelessly to my ass and the dog quits it barking after I give it a strong glare. “Hold on, hold on. This little delinquent belongs to me.”

Not wanting to give anything away in front of the deputy I play the idiotic son. “Dad, how are you doing?”

“So, do you listen in to all my phone calls?”

“No. Just the interesting ones.”

“Now, where’s your usual partner in crime?”

My hearing hones in on his heartbeat. It is farther off to the right. He isn’t within hearing distance of us now, even if we were to yell. I need to get dad out of here and to Scott as quick as I can. “Who, Scott? Scott’s home. Said he wanted to get a good night’s sleep for the first day back at school tomorrow. It’s just me. In the woods. Totally alone.” I put some emphasis on the last few words, hoping that dad will understand that something is wrong.

The look in his eyes tells me he gets it and that I am in so much trouble when this is over. “Well, then I guess I am going to have to walk you back to your car.” He comes over and puts a hand on the back of my neck just like mom used to when I was in trouble. “You and I are gonna have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy.” He nods the deputy off and we start our trek deeper into the woods. As soon as we get a decent distance between us and the search unit, he drops his hand and then turns on me. “Now what in the hell is going on?”

“Okay, we need to keep moving. There is a wolf out here. I am pretty sure that it is what killed that girl. Scott pulled ahead of me and I lost him. He is out there on his own, and there is rouge wolf loose. We have to find him. You got those wolfsbane bullets with you?”

“A werewolf?” He sighs. “No, I didn’t bring them.”

“Dad, you need to have that stuff on you at all times. I know you don’t like it, but it is the only thing that will keep you safe when I’m not around.”

“It’s not your job to protect me, Stiles.”

“It is when it comes to this stuff. Now we have to get moving. I can hear Scott. He’s over this way, and the wolf isn’t too far off.” I keep my pace sedated enough that dad can keep up with me. I don’t want to lose him by moving too fast.

Then there is a howl and a scream. I’m too late. They aren’t that far off now, so I pick up speed and get there just as the wolf is pulling away from Scott. He is so deformed. Nothing like what mom told me a werewolf should look like. Plus this guy’s an Alpha. Those crimson red eyes are a dead giveaway. Great. 

It doesn’t take much thought for me to form a ball of lighting in my hand and hurl it at the wolf. He is just a little too slow to completely evade it and I get his left hind leg before he scurries into the trees. I light up another ball and keep it ready, just in case. But then Scott is groaning on the ground and dad is coming through the trees. I let the ball of lighting flicker out and drop to Scott’s side. There is blood coming from his abdomen and when I pull back the sweatshirt there is a massive bite mark there. Shit. My best friend is going to turn into a werewolf. Great. Just great. 

“Is he okay?”

“Kind of?”

“What do you mean kind of?”

“Uh, that was an Alpha. An Alpha’s bite turns a human into a werewolf. Scott got bit by the Alpha.”

“Shit.”

“Exactly.” I lean back on the heels of my feet and let my senses spread out again. I want to make sure that the wolf is gone for now. But something I wasn’t expecting makes my nose twitch. The smell of decay. “Uh, dad, I think I know where the other half of that body is.” We lift Scott together and I lead us to where the stench is coming from. About thirty feet from where Scott was sprawled out is half of a woman. The upper half. Then another scent hits me. “Dad, she was a werewolf too.”

“Damnit.” He calls in the location of the body and then tells me to get Scott home. When he wakes up I have some explaining to do. Hefting Scott’s body onto one of my shoulders I make good use of my enhanced abilities to get us back to my jeep as fast as I can. The drive home is quite and all I can think about is how Scott is going to get a crash course in the supernatural world. But also, that I will finally get to share my secret with someone besides my dad for the first time ever. That prospect makes me a little bit happier. 

Getting Scott into the house is a little easier because he has started to wake up and is able to shuffle up the driveway and into the house. Once we hit the living room I set him on the couch and go grab him a glass of water. When I come back into the living room he is sitting up, one hand rubbing his head as if he is in the thralls of a migraine, while the other is lightly pressing at the bite wound. “Stiles? What the hell just happened?”

I hand him the water and sit down on the coffee table in front of him. “Oh, Scotty. So we have a few things to talk about.”

“Where are we? Weren’t we just in the woods?”

“Uh, yeah, we were. But you got attacked and I had to haul your ass back to my place so you wouldn’t freak out in the trees. No Blair Witch Project moment for you.” 

He gives a wince of a smile and takes a long pull at the glass of water. “What happened?”

“What do you know about werewolves?”

“Werewolves?”

“Yes, werewolves, you know, getting furry, howling at the moon, losing control of your body once a month? Werewolves?”

“This is some kind of sick joke, dude. I was just attacked and you think now is the time for jokes?”

“I wish I was joking Scott. I really do. You were bitten by an Alpha werewolf. The bite of an Alpha will turn you into one. Sorry dude, but you’re gonna be one whether you like it or not.”

He stands up and sways a bit before finding his balance. “Seriously, not funny.”

I stand with him. “I know. Now if you just sit back down, I can-“

“No, I’m outta here. See you tomorrow at school. Maybe you can quit the joke then.” He walks past me before I can stop him, and slams the front door as he leaves. Knowing Scott, he just needs a few days to process this. But the full moon is only a couple of days away, so he doesn’t have much time to get his shit together. I don’t want to hurt him, but I won’t let him hurt anyone else either. I know he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. 

I sink back into the couch and pull out my phone to call dad. “Hey, kid. How’d the talk go?”

“Horribly. He left and didn’t believe me. Wouldn’t even give me time to prove to him that this shit is real. Dad, he is going to put so many people in danger.”

“We’ll keep him and everyone else safe, kid. Don’t worry. He just needs some time. It’s gonna be a while before I can make it home, I want you to go to the basement and close the door. I’ll be home to let you out for school, don’t worry. Keep your phone on you and please for the love of God, don’t get into any more trouble.” 

“I won’t dad. Stay safe yourself.”

“Will do, son. Now try and get some sleep. I’ll be home in a few hours.” He hangs up and I take myself straight to the basement door. It is always left ajar when I am home alone. Since it is made of mountain ash, and the entire basement is lined in the stuff, it acts as a security system for the supernatural. I can’t touch the door, but it is set on an automatic release from other side, so all I have to do it push the lever up to close the door. 

Once I am down there I am nervous and scared. The last time we had and Alpha werewolf in town was when the Hales were here. They didn’t know about us, and we kept out of their way. Since most of the family died, there has been a lack of supernatural activity in our little town. I have always wanted some adventure, but now I wish that it would just go away. I have a feeling that after tonight, my life is going to messy and filled with crazy things happening. I shuck all my clothes and then shift into my fox form to curl up to fall into a restless sleep.

…

The next day dad wakes me up with a raised eyebrow. He doesn’t say anything, just sets some clothes down for me and heads back upstairs to start making breakfast. I shift and change then go up to meet him.

“When did that happen?” He doesn’t turn from the stove, but keeps his voice light.

“Um, about a year ago.” He makes a noise of acknowledgement and keeps cooking. I don’t know what that is supposed to mean, so I let it drop for now. There is too much on my mind to think about it for too long. “So, do you know who the dead girl is?”

“You know I can’t talk about open cases.”

“I know, but dad, this is supernatural. You might need my help.”

“Nope. Not going there with you. You need to keep yourself out of this.”

“Dad, that’s going to be hard with my best friend being turned into a werewolf.” He sighs in resignation.

“I know. But I don’t want to see you get hurt. This is dangerous Stiles, and I can’t be there to protect you all the time.”

“Dad, I can take care of myself. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that no wolf will ever see coming. Scott is gonna need me. And I’m gonna need you. Please.” I’m not trying to be whiney, but dad has to understand how important all of this is.

“Fine, but I’m not going to tell you anything about this case unless you absolutely need to know it. So, no, we don’t know who the Jane Doe is yet. But we are running her fingerprints through the system. I got them to hold off on the blood test for a little bit, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to put that off.”

“Okay, I think you should be fine with her blood. Pretty sure that the werewolf gene doesn’t show up with everything else. Although that would be interesting if it did.”

“Now you need to go to school. Try and talk to Scott again, but don’t push him too far. And I want you home by seven. It gets darker quicker now, and I don’t want you out with an Alpha prowling about. Understand?”

“Yeah, dad. I got it.” I start to pick up my bag and grab my keys, then turn and wrap my arms around dad in a tight hug. “Stay safe, I can’t lose you too.” He hugs me back tightly then lets me go. 

Once I get to school, I try to find Scott, but he is talking with some guys from the lacrosse team and is adamantly avoiding me. Our first class together is English and he pointedly sits facing the front of the room away from me, and I don’t get the chance to grab his attention before the bell rings. 

The teacher starts to talk about the dead body and how the police have a suspect in custody, lie, and that we should focus on the work at hand. Just as he starts to give his overview of the semester, Scott flinches. It takes me a second to open my senses to hear what he is, and it leads to this girl sitting outside talking on the phone. A new girl. Scott’s on high alert as they make their way into the school. Then one of the guidance counselors opens the door to the class room. “Class this is Allison Argent-“ and at that, I quit listening to everything else he has to say and keep my eyes on her. Argent. Argent. The Argents are one of the most infamous Hunting families to ever exist. The fact that they are in Beacon Hills just as a new Alpha appears is no coincidence.

She walks into the classroom and takes the only seat available. Next to me and behind Scott. My heart is thudding in my chest and then I hear Scott’s too. But when I look at him I have to stop a groan from escaping my mouth. There are freaking hearts in his eyes. Of course Scott would have to go and gush after one of the only things that’s capable of taking him out. Now I really have to talk to him. He can’t even think about this girl, and he has to keep his nose so clean that dust will be afraid to settle there.

It isn’t until lacrosse practice that I am able to talk to him for any length of time. But just as we are about to sit on the bench, coach comes over and hands Scott the Goalie equipment. As he heads out onto the field I can tell that this will either blow up and be terrible, or he will swing with his new found abilities and everything will be fine. Either way, he is about to make an impression on the coach and rest of the team.

The first ball hits him square in the head and he goes down with it, but every ball after that he catches. Even Jackson’s. All I can do is chew on my glove and wait for him to come back over to me. When practice is finally over and we are headed to my car, it’s as if he hadn’t ignored me all day long. He was still reeling from practice and I can’t bring myself to break his happy mood. 

That is until he tells me that he wants to go out to the woods to search for his missing inhaler. “Scott, I told you, that isn’t a good idea.”

“You still aren’t on this werewolf thing, are you?” I start to make my way out there and as we hit the preserve I make sure to keep all my senses open like I did last time.

“Scott, how do you explain how you suddenly, overnight, managed to get so good at lacrosse? I mean, you have had virtually zero experience as goalie, yet you managed to catch every single shot that was thrown at you. How were you able to do that?”

“I don’t know. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball.”

“Exactly. You’re reflexes are better. And how about the other stuff?”

“What other stuff?”

“Like how you heard the new girl on the phone when she was outside? I bet hearing isn’t the only sense that is heightened right now is it?”

“How did you know that I heard that?”

“Cause I was paying attention to you, and I was able to hear it too.”

“How?”

“I’m a Kitsune. A fox spirit. So was my mom.”

“What? Is that even a real thing?”

“Yes, want me to prove it to you?”

“How are you gonna prove it to me?”

I don’t respond, I just hold out a hand and create a ball of light in my hand. Then I let it dance around us before extinguishing it. “Enough proof for you?”

He still looks skeptical. “That could have been a party trick.”

“Fine.” After taking a sweep of the surroundings not sensing anything I let the Kitsune aura push to the surface so that Scott can see it. 

“Dude!” He holds out a hand as if to touch the glowing force around me and I pull back reflexively. 

As I let it fade we continue our walk through the trees. “You can’t tell anyone. There are people out there who hunt us down. Many of them shoot first and ask questions later. Some of them just shoot.”

“Okay, but I-“ I clamp a hand over his mouth and shush him. There is someone walking through the trees not too far away from us. Making sure my Aura is hidden away, I whisper to Scott to act natural and to get behind me if things get ugly. He nods and he bends down to look through the underbrush. “I swear this is where I lost it. Those things are like eighty bucks, my mom is gonna kill me if I don’t find it.”

If none of that was true we would have been screwed. Scott isn’t the best of actors, and it takes all I have to not keep looking in the direction where the person is coming from. It isn’t until he is visible through the trees that I hit Scott and make him stand to look at the stranger with me. But as I take a closer look and get a slight hint of the guys scent do I realize that this is Derek Hale. Hale as in the wolf pack that used to live here.

He stalks towards us with a glower on his face. “What are you doing here? Huh? This is private property.” If you weren’t paying attention you wouldn’t see what Derek is doing as he talks. But I am always paying attention to the actions of others around me. His nostrils flare a bit taking in our scents, his head turns just a bit to the side as if he is listening to our heartbeats, and his pupils dilate when he comes to smell that Scott is a wolf.

“Uh, Sorry, man, we didn’t know.” Truth. I didn’t know where the Hale territory line stood because one, I don’t go running in the woods, and two the Hale’s haven’t lived here in almost six years.

“Yeah, we were just looking for something, but…” Derek raises his eyebrows waiting for an answer. “Uh, forget it.” Derek pulls his hand out of the pocket of his leather jacket, which totally suits him by the way, and tosses Scott’s inhaler at him then turns and walks away with a final glare at us.

I hold us back until I am sure that Derek is out of earshot. “Do you know who that was?”

“No, do you?”

“That was Derek Hale. He’s not that much older than us. His family died in a fire at their house like six years ago.”

“I wonder what he’s doing back?”

“Didn’t you pick up on it?”

“On what?”

“He’s a werewolf. It’s a very distinctive smell. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, just noticeable. I thought you had.”

“I mean I thought I smelled something, but…”

“Okay, I really need to get you up to speed on all things wolfy. Or at least the things I can. Plus the full moon is tomorrow, so you may need to come over to my place. I can’t help you control the wolf, but I can make sure you won’t hurt anyone.”

“Dude, can we talk about this later? I have to go to work.” 

I sigh. He isn’t taking this as seriously as he needs to be. But I can’t rush him through this either. I hand him my keys. “Fine. I have something I gotta take care of. I’ll come pick this up on my way home. You’re mom’s picking you up from work right?”

“Yeah. What are you gonna do?”

“Nothing you have to worry about buddy. Just make sure to keep you head down. I’ll talk to you later.” He nods and then heads off to the jeep. But I turn and try and pick up Derek crunching through the underbrush. It’s faint so I use his scent that is fading with the wind to follow him until I can hear him again. Staying quite in a forest isn’t the easiest of feats, but I am not a Forest Kitsune for nothing. When I want to, I can go unnoticed. It has taken some intense practice, but snooping around dad’s things has given me just that. I have yet to get caught red handed going through his stuff.

His trail leads back to a burned down house in a small clearing in the woods. This is the old Hale house. Many of my classmates have come out here in attempts of ‘bravery’ and just to vandalize the ruins. “I know you’re out there, so you might as well come out.”

Derek is standing on the front porch of the house staring off in my direction. He must be able to hear my heartbeat. I guess wolves have better hearing than I thought. Well, I guess there’s no more use hiding in the shadows. “Didn’t know wolves had such good hearing.”

If he is surprised that I know about the existence of wolves he doesn’t show it. “Well your friend is a wolf, shouldn’t you have some firsthand experience?”

“No, he was only just turned last night. The Alpha that is out there is the one that bit him. I assume that is why you are back in town?” I try to keep my voice casual, but I am sure that I failed miserably. 

“Yes and no.” I wait for more, be he doesn’t say anything.

“Okay? Then why are you here?”

“Why should I tell some scrawny kid?”

“Fair point, but since I know all about you, and my best friend just joined your little furry club, I think that I have a right to know why there has been a sudden appearance of werewolves in Beacon Hills. Scott is going to have to deal with this Alpha, which means that I am going to have to deal with this Alpha. Personally, I like to work with as much information as possible. Now, we can either work together or separate, but seeing as you are probably only a Beta, but more probably an Omega, you will need help to take care of this rouge Alpha. Assuming that is one of the reasons that you are here. Plus, Scott could use the help of a wolf to learn control. I can only help him so much, since my knowledge of wolves is sparse at best. Did I leave anything out?”

He raises his eye brows at me. There is a glare that is trying to come through, but it morphs along the way to something indecipherable. He waits a few more minutes having an internal debate with himself then finally relents. “Fine. Let’s talk.”

“Good, but not here. The Alpha could be around anywhere, and I for one don’t want to run into him. You got a car?”

He waits another minute but then moves down the steps to the side of the house. I follow and see a sleek black Camaro parked there. Letting out a whistle, I can’t help but appreciate his ride. “Of course you would drive this. It’s like sex on wheels.” He raises an eyebrow at me again, but then drops it as we get in the car. After I give him directions to the animal clinic we delve into silence. He isn’t much of a talker, and while normally I would be all about filling the quite with my ramblings, something about this guy settles the normally restlessness that resides within me. It’s probably just his calm and cool demeanor. 

After we get to the clinic I get out and tell him I’ll be right back. Then I make my way in to get my keys from Scott and I tell him to call me later. He nods and goes back to work. Getting back into my Jeep I motion for Derek to follow me and he does without so much as a wave in acknowledgement. 

When we get back to my house I pull in the driveway and am thankful to see that dad isn’t home yet. Derek is there just as I am getting the door open. I usher him into the living room. “Can I get you something to drink?” He doesn’t say anything, just stands there. I roll my eyes and get two glasses of water, then come back and hand him one. He sets it on the table and sits only after I do. I can tell he doesn’t want to beat around the bush so I just dive straight in. “Okay, so what I know is that the Alpha was in the woods last night and he killed someone. She was a wolf, he ripped her in half and separated the pieces. Then when Scott and I were foolishly looking for the other half of the body, we got separated. By the time I knew where they were, it was too late. Scott was bitten, so the best I could do was scare it off and hope that it wouldn’t come back.”

Derek is quite for a long time, and I think that he isn’t going to say anything. But his face is showing different emotions than I thought he would be expressing. It’s grief, guilt, and pain. “He killed Laura.” It comes out low, and at first I don’t know who it is he is talking about, but then I remember dad talking about the only survivors of the Hale fire were Derek, Laura, and their uncle Peter.

“Oh, Derek, I didn’t know.”

His face hardens and loses all the emotions that were just displayed there. If I hadn’t seen them for myself, I would have sworn they never appeared. “How did you scare it off?” He looks like he doesn’t believe that I am capable, which for all intent and purposes, I’m not.

And before I know it, I find myself telling him. A complete stranger. I am telling a stranger what I am. “I’m a Kitsune. I used some of my fox fire, I only managed to graze his leg, but that will stay with him for a little while. I know electricity is one of your guys’ downfalls.” 

“You’re a Fox Spirit?”

Tired of people not believing me, I let my aura slip through so he can see it. When it becomes visible, his posture changes from somewhat relaxed to tense all over. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you. I have no intention of attacking a possible ally. Scott needs your help, and you are going to need mine. Two Betas aren’t a match for an Alpha. You know that, and I know that. We need to work together on this.”

His shoulders stay somewhat tense, but the rest of him relaxes enough to slouch against the back of the couch he was sitting on. “I came here looking for my sister, Laura. She came back a few days ago looking for answers. A letter came in the mail a few weeks ago and it showed that there was some werewolf activity going on back here. Have you noticed anything?”

My cheeks flush a bit at the question. “No. I don’t go out much. Dad likes me to keep things under wraps, so I don’t get to go out in the preserve as often as I might otherwise like.” He nods but says nothing about my lack of bonding with nature.

“She didn’t check in two days ago so I decided to come here in search of her. But I was too late.” He hunches in on himself, and I don’t think he realized he is doing it.

I don’t know what makes me do it, but I cross the room and rest a hand on his shoulder giving him some support. “How would you have known? This isn’t your fault. But you can claim her body, my dad should be home in an hour or two, why don’t you stay for now, and talk to him when he gets here?”

He almost flinches at the contact of my hand, but doesn’t move away either. “I don’t think that would be wise.”

“No, I think it is. My dad is the Sherriff. You would have to talk to him anyway. Where are you staying?” He doesn’t answer and looks sort of guilty. “You are not staying in that house are you?” The guilty looks stays, but then turns a glare in my direction. “Nope, not gonna happen. You’re staying here tonight and then you can find a motel room or apartment tomorrow. I assume you are staying at least until this is taken care of, so you better get comfy buddy.” He looks like he is about to argue, but then thinks- better of it. A wise decision on his part, but he still seems a little unsure. “Seriously. It’s cool. You need a place to stay and this way you are protected. Plus there are Hunters in town.”

“What?”

“Yeah, new girl joined our class today. Last name’s Argent-“ I don’t get to say anything more because Derek lets loose one angry growl. “Calm down dude! No shredding the furniture with your wolfy claws. I know it’s bad, but I think-“

“It is worse than bad.” His eyes keep flashing from his normal hazel to a bright icy blue and his fangs are slowly creeping past his lips. 

It takes all of two seconds for me to put the pieces together. “It was them.” I’m not even sure that he heard me. That is until he manages to get himself under control and give me an assessing look. “They are the ones that burned your family.”

“Not all of them. Just one.”

“Okay. So this is really bad. They don’t know you’re back yet, right?” He shakes his head. Okay. My mind starts racing trying to put together a plan for the shit storm that is surely going to be coming our way. “Right. They only know about the wolfy activity that has been happening around here then, so you have to stay so far under the radar. So does Scott. They don’t know about me, no one knows about me. So if we can take care of the Alpha then we can get rid of them.” 

“It’s not going to be that easy.”

“I know it won’t be, but if we can try it out for now, maybe we can let this all take care of itself. I mean there is no point in showing our entire hand all at once, right?”

He crosses his arms over his chest in a very defensive manner. “How do I know that I can trust you? I don’t even know your name.”

“Oh, my, God! How rude of me!” I hold out my hand to him. “My name is Stiles. No, it’s not my real name, and no I won’t tell you what that name is. So it’s Stiles, or Stilinski if you are one of the teachers that I loathe.” He doesn’t shake my hand but raises an eyebrow instead. I have a feeling that the more I communicate with this guy, the more he will use his eyebrows as expressions. Best start learning that language then. I pull my hand back and move to stand. “I guess I should get started on dinner then. How about lasagna? Full of carbs, some meat, that should fill you right up. I know you wolves tend to eat a bit more than normal.”

The silence that emanates from Derek is terminal I swear. I rock back on my heels for a moment before moving off to the kitchen to start. After about five minutes he moves to sit at the kitchen table. He glances around the room taking note of all the exits, and when his eyes land on the basement door, he withdraws a bit. “Don’t worry. That is for my protection. Dad and I set up a few years ago just in case some supernatural baddie decided to traipse through town. I was too young to do anything about it then, but now it is an added layer of security. The whole basement is lined in Mountain Ash, so nothing can get in.”

“And nothing can get out.” He looks a little green around the edges for a moment, but it is quickly replaced by what must be his permanent scowl. I don’t know what is running through his head, but none of it seems pleasant. 

Again we lapse into silence and it is only when my father pulls in the driveway that Derek tenses again. “Stiles, I’m home.”

“In the kitchen dad, we have a guest.”

“Did Scott finally decide to listen to you?” He walks into the room and stops in the doorway looking at Derek seated at the table with a hand on his holster. “Stiles, care to make introductions?”

“Dad, this is Derek Hale, Derek, this is my father, John Stilinski.” My tone goes from cheery to somber quickly. “Dad, that girl in the woods, it was Laura Hale. Derek’s sister. “ Dad’s grip on his piece tightens and I have to quickly move between the two of them to stop my dad from doing something stupid. “He is not the enemy. He is here to help us.”

“And how do we know he’s not the Alpha?”

“First off, because it was his own sister, secondly, their scents are different, third, his eyes are blue. Alphas have red eyes. Derek is a Beta.”

Dad relaxes a bit and moves to sit across the table from Derek. “Sorry, just have to make sure that my son is safe.”

“It’s no problem sir. I understand.”

“Oh, and dad. Derek is spending the night here tonight. He was trying to sleep in his old house. I won’t let him.”

“Stiles.”

“No dad, there are Hunters in town. He isn’t safe out there. Plus he can help train Scott in ways that I can’t.”

Dad’s eyes narrow. “Hunters? How do you know?”

“New girl in school today. Her last name is Argent. Mom warned me about them. They are one of the most feared groups in the supernatural community. They mainly go after werewolves, but they aren’t shy about taking out any kind of supernatural creature. Even the harmless ones.”

“Son, you can’t start making accusations-“

“It’s true, sir. It was one of them that burned my family to the ground. I know that for a fact.”

Dad seems to contemplate what he has heard. “I knew it was too easy. Never had the proof though.”

“What are you talking about dad?”

“The fire. It was just before your mother died. The fire inspector said it was an electrical fire, but no electrical fire I’ve ever heard of could start that fast and burn that strong. You said you know who started it?” He looks at Derek with an intense gaze that says he is in detective mode.

“Yes. I know who started it.”

“Well then, I may just have to reopen the case and start digging a little bit. But for now, I agree. You will stay here. If you are helping my son, the least I can do is offer you a warm bed.”

Derek looks a bit flushed at the offer. “You really don’t have to sir. I can find a place to stay.”

“Nonsense. This way they won’t know you’re back, assuming they don’t know already, and there is a -little extra protection for my son. He doesn’t know how to keep himself out of trouble and I could use an extra set of eyes. If you really feel that badly about it you can pay for groceries and utilities. But I would feel a lot safer if you were here.”

Derek just nods and I fist pump internally. I don’t know why I was so open and insistent with Derek, but it has led to having an ally in this mess that has started. Now if only things can get back to peaceful.

…

The next day at lacrosse practice Scott is a little crazy. He pulls off moves that he couldn’t have done three days ago. So I make sure he comes over after school so we can talk a bit without anyone over hearing us. Derek is out, he said that he had to make a few arrangements for his and Laura’s things in New York, and that he would be back a little after us. “Scott, are you ready to take this seriously now?”

“Stiles, I can’t think about this right now. I have to pick up Allison in an hour. We’ll talk tomorrow.” His shoulders lift and fall in an uncaring way, and then looks at me trying to give off a hint of finality.

“Tomorrow? What!?No!” I spaz out a bit. Fails and everything. “The full moon’s tonight. Don’t you get it?”

“What are you trying to do? I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can’t believe wants to go out with me-“

“Yeah, who’s from a family of Hunters, by the way!”

“-and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?” He just kept talking like I hadn’t even said anything. This is so typically Scott that it physically hurts to be his best friend right now. But that’s the thing. He will hurt someone if I don’t stop him.

“I’m trying to help. This is something you have to deal with now whether you like it or not. It isn’t going to go away. It’s not just about the moon. This will cause a physical change in you, and it will be when your bloodlust will be at its peak.”

“Bloodlust.” He says is petulantly. 

“Yeah, your urge to kill. Is any of this sinking in yet?”

“Yeah, I’m already starting feel an urge to kill, Stiles.”

“Scott, if you don’t listen to me, you could seriously hurt someone. If you hurt anyone how would you feel after, when you realize what you have done? You can’t go out tonight. You have got to cancel this date.” I get up and move to get his phone out of his backpack.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m canceling the date.” 

“No, give it to me!” He starts to push me against the wall, but I twist out of his grasp and turn us around so he is the one against the wall. Then I raise a ball of lighting to hover over his face in a clear warning. It takes him a minute to calm down and when he finally realizes what he almost did he starts to apologize. “I’m sorry.” I back away from him and let the fox fire dissipate. He looks somewhat shaken and starts to move towards his stuff and the door. “I’ve got to get and get ready for that party. I’m sorry.” 

It’s half a lie. He is sorry for the way he reacted, but it wasn’t enough to stop him outright. After I hear him leave the house I kick the chair I was sitting in and then turn with another ball ready to fire when Derek eases in through the window. “Are you okay?”

I let it dissipate for the second time and move to pick up the chair. “Yeah. He just won’t listen to me. He’s going with the Argent girl, and he’s going on a full moon. We have to go. I can’t let him hurt anyone.”

“Are you going to be able to stop him?”

“I will do what I have to.” He cocks his eyebrow at me in disbelief. “I will. I won’t kill him, but I will subdue him long enough to lock his ass up in my basement. He has to learn that this is going to be with him for forever. It’s a part of him now.” His eyebrow rises again. “What?”

“Nothing, just didn’t expect you to feel so strongly.”

“We were born like this. It has been a part of our lives forever. He is new to this, but it’s not going to change anytime soon. He needs to understand that. I know what it’s like to come into new powers and not understand them. It’s hard, but it can be done.”

He nods, “Okay, let’s go.” I nod and grab a button up shirt on my way out. We get in Derek’s car and head to the party.

…

When Scott starts to lose control, I have Derek take him and get him to the car while I handle Allison. “So Scotty isn’t feeling well, he has to go home. Sorry.” She is about to say something else, but I dodge out and make my way quickly to the car so that we can get him home. 

It doesn’t take long with the way Derek drives to get back to my house. Dad‘s home and I lead Derek, who is handling Scott, down to the basement and close the door from the inside. “Dad! Don’t let us out until I say. Sorry for any noises that we make tonight. It’s going to be a rough one.”

“Be careful son.”

Once I walk back down the stairs I see Derek sitting there talking with Scott, trying to get him to calm down and gain control. I try not to listen in too closely to what they are saying, but can’t help but overhear him talking about anchors and focusing on something. He looks over at me and then tells Scott to dig his claws into his arm. Scott does it and he is able to shift back from what must be his Beta form. “I don’t recommend using this every time, but pain can help. It keeps you human, just like anger and lust can make you shift into the wolf. You need to find an anchor and then you won’t need to hurt yourself like that.” 

I can’t help but wonder, “What’s your anchor?”

“Anger.” It is short but to the point. Makes sense that a guy with this many issues would use anger. “Family.” It comes out quietly and I am sure that we were not meant to hear it, but fox hearing is better than a wolf’s. I know that Derek has suffered through a lot, maybe by helping Scott he can get some of what he was missing back. I don’t know what is going to come our way with the Alpha and the Hunters, but at least I’m not alone in trying to handle it.


	2. Make New Friends and Being a Badass

The rest of the night passes in a blur of Scott half transforming and Derek trying to calm him down. I want to help, but I don’t have a clue how to go about doing so. Mostly, I sit in the corner and try to stay out of the way. By the time the sun rises, Scott is sleeping on the mattress while Derek and I are sitting on opposite ends of the beat up couch. “Thanks for helping dude. There’s no way I could have gotten him through that alone.”

“You know, this isn’t the last time this will happen right? Unless he finds an anchor he will go through this every full moon. Eventually it will bleed into his everyday life, and he will go feral.”

“I know, but now he has a month to try and figure things out. If he had stayed at that party who knows what would have happened.” 

“He needs to learn control. He should quit lacrosse until he finds an anchor. If he starts to get stressed during a game, he could hurt himself and anyone there. Not to mention out himself and us to the world at large.”

“Good luck trying to convince him of that.”

“Stiles-“ I never thought my name could sound like a swear word before.

“No, I get it. Believe me, I do. I just know Scott, and he isn’t going to quit even if you tell him to. Just like he probably won’t stop trying to see Allison. He’s got a really big heart, but he isn’t always the brightest bulb.” He just gives me this look as though he isn’t impressed. “Look, I’ll try to talk to him. I can’t make any promises, but sometimes he does listen to me.” He gives a curt nod and looks back over to Scott. I turn to look at him too, and then gaze down at my hands. All of a sudden I am nervous and I don’t know why. “But, you’ll be there, right? Just in case?” I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He is still for a moment before nodding. Finally, I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I don’t think I could handle all this without you. I know about werewolves, but not nearly as much as you do. Scott will come around, it just might take some time.” Dad opens the door a few minutes later saying that he has breakfast ready for us. Time to start the day, and I can tell it’s going to be a long one. 

…

The ride to school starts quietly. Scott looks like he wants to ask me something so I finally give in. “Dude, just ask. I can tell you are about to give yourself a hernia from the strain of keeping it in.”

He laughs and lets out a breath. “Sorry I didn’t believe you about all this. I mean, it is kinda crazy.”

“Yeah, it can be. But it’s your life now, you have to accept that.”

“I know.” From his tone I can tell that he is resentful for the new change to his life. I mean, yeah it sucks that he didn’t get to choose this life, but the perks will be amazing. I can already hear the difference in his breathing. Asthma will be a thing of the past. “So… what are you again?”

He looks a bit sheepish. He wasn’t really taking me seriously when I was telling him everything. “I’m a Kitsune.”

“A what?”

“A fox spirit.”

“Isn’t that like Japanese or something?”

“Saying the Kitsune can only be Japanese is like saying that only white people can be American. Kitsune live everywhere, the Japanese were just the first to recognize us for what we were and give us a name. Mom is European, but she said that she spent quite a bit of time in Japan. They didn’t judge her so much and she was able to show more of herself there. They revered her. She was part of the Divine clan though, I wouldn’t have gotten the same treatment as her.”

“Wait, how old was your mom?”

“She was around seven hundred years old when she died.”

“Dude! How old are you?”

“I’m sixteen idiot!” I can’t help but to laugh. “You and I went to middle school together, remember?”

“Well, you could be older.”

“Nah, we age the same until we hit our twenties, then it slows down dramatically. I’ll still look like I’m in my twenties even after my third or fourth century.”

“Damn dude!”

“Yeah, but I would rather not think about that just yet. For now, I’m a sixteen year old who only just got his driver’s permit. And my best friend is a werewolf who needs to learn everything he can about being one. You only have a month until the next full moon. Shit is real.”

“I know. Thanks for being there for me.”

“It wasn’t just me. Derek did all the work, I just sat there and tried to stay out of the way.”

“Do you think we can really trust him? How do you know he isn’t the one who bit me?”

“He didn’t bite you, Scott. He’s only a Beta, like you. Only an Alpha can turn someone.”

“How do you know he isn’t the Alpha?”

“Alphas have red eyes when they turn, Betas have gold or blue. His are blue.” I don’t say why his are blue and Scott doesn’t think to ask. I know the reason, but I am not judging Derek before I really get to know him. If he killed an innocent then he must have had a good enough reason. I don’t know why I feel that way, but I do. And when dealing with the supernatural you learn to trust your instincts. “So yeah, we can trust him. You know it was his sister that was killed right, that body in the woods? He wouldn’t kill one of his only remaining family members. In case you didn’t notice, he is pretty tore up about it. I‘m surprised he managed to stay in control last night.” Scott looks like he’s thinking. Possibly ready to resist. “Listen. He is staying to at least help with the Alpha, we think it was him who killed Laura, his sister, he said he would help you learn control. And to do that, you may have to quit lacrosse for a while-“

“What?! I can’t do that! Our first game is coming up! I’ve been working towards this for years!” His eyes start to turn yellow and I know that I have to calm him down fast. 

“Breathe, Scott. You gotta calm down.” Once he his breathing regularly again I continue. “That, right there, is why you are gonna have to quit. When you get angry, or frustrated, or have too much adrenaline running through your system, it triggers the change. You don’t have control yet, so you will start to shift and if you do that you will probably hurt someone. Not to mention expose yourself to the world and put a target on you from the Hunters.” 

“But Stiles-“

“Scott, seriously. This will put others in danger. Also, you gotta stay away from Allison. I don’t know if she knows about the supernatural yet or not, but her family is one of the biggest names in the hunting community. Did you know that Argent is the French word for silver? Werewolves are weak to silver; it is a play on the legend, not a literal translation.”

“But Stiles, I really like her.”

“Dude, if she is a Hunter, do you think she would think twice about shooting you up with wolfsbane?” He doesn’t say anything, and I don’t know if what I said got through to him. Knowing Scott, it didn’t. But I did try. “Just, be really careful, okay?” He nods and the rest of the ride is spent in silence.

Once we get to school he is off with a few words and I can tell where he is headed already. Allison is standing with Lydia and Jackson. He starts to apologize and I can’t even stay around to be within hearing distance. This is not going to end well. It will only be a matter of time before their Romeo and Juliet romance gets one or both of them hurt/killed. 

…

After school is lacrosse practice, and as we hit the field I see Derek standing at the tree line to the woods. The tenseness that I have been carrying around all day relaxes a bit. Scott kept some distance from me all day, and tried to secretly apologize and make up with Allison. From the sounds of his heartbeat in the locker room he managed to gain her forgiveness. As Coach starts practice I head over to where Derek is standing. “So I talked to him, but he won’t see sense when it comes to her or this stupid game.” He gives me those damn eyebrows. “What?”

“If you think it’s stupid, why do you play?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Scott wanted to play, so I did the best bro thing and joined with him.”

“But you aren’t first string? Why not? You could run circles around them.”

“Yeah, I could. But that wouldn’t fit with the illusion I created for myself a long time ago. They all see me as this spastic kid with ADHD. And while my mind is often thinking of many things at once, I can actually be quite nimble. I’ve spent my whole life hiding who I am, showing off to impress these jerks, just seems pointless.” He is giving me another look, but this is one I can’t read. 

It’s at this point that I hear Scott’s heart rate accelerate, and turn just in time to see him rush Jackson. There is an audible crunch as they clash and Jackson goes down hard. Scott follows but it’s to his knees. I don’t even think as I am racing to the field to Scott’s side. “Dude, you gotta get up now. You are turning.” He is a bit shaky, but makes it to his feet and we scramble towards the locker room. 

We barely make it through the door before his eyes turn gold and fangs protrude from his mouth. Yeah, not good. I scramble back to get some space between us and duck around the corner of the lockers. Scott jumps up on top of them and follows me as I make my way through the small maze. Right as he leaps for me I hurl a small ball of fox fire at him making him stop in his tracks with the sudden jolt of electricity. 

Derek appears behind me and Scott snarls on the floor for a moment before his heart slows and he is able to pull off the helmet that he was still wearing to sit up. “Stiles? What happened?”

I drop down to a crouch in front of him with Derek still at my back. “You tried to kill me? It’s like I told you before. It’s the anger, it’s your pulse rising. It’s a trigger.”

“And it’s going to be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field.” Derek adds his bit standing with me on this fact. 

“You can’t play Saturday. You are gonna have to get out of the game.”

“But I’m first line.”

“Not anymore.” He looks between me and Derek before nodding his head. We both change and get ready to leave. Scott hops on his bike and makes his way back home. I know he is depressed about not being able to play, but at least he was wise enough to agree. Derek lingers for a moment though. “Need a ride?” He inclines his head and gets into the passenger seat. 

The silence is heavy until I reach the first red light. “You did a good job handling him.”

“Uh, thanks?”

He hesitates a moment more before continuing. “Thank you for offering me a place to stay. I know it’s an inconvenience for you and your father.”

“It’s really not that big a deal. I mean, you’re helping us, so it’s the least we can do.” He raises an eyebrow at me again. By now I am just getting used to it. “What?”

“It’s nothing.” Blip.

“Yeah, see, I have better hearing than any wolf does, and I can tell you just lied.”

His eyes go a bit wide at that, and it actually takes him a few more minutes to continue. “Just not used to strangers and kindness.”

“You are pretty cynical, aren’t you? I mean you have good reason to be, but the last thing I am going to do is lie to you, and you need help. It’s kind of in my blood to help.”

“I thought that Kitsune were foxes, and that you should never trust a fox.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not your typical Fox.” He rolls his eyes at the smirk I throw his way. “But really, there are a lot of stereotypes about foxes, and only half of them are true. Well, at least for me. You can trust me Derek, I get it if you don’t right now, but maybe someday you will.” I leave it at that. If I were in his position I wouldn’t trust to easily either, I mean, I usually don’t anyway, but, yeah. 

When we get back to the house I text a few of the guys on the team to find out about how Jackson is doing. He apparently has a separated shoulder. I text Scott to let him know and he says that his mom is going to take off for the game on Saturday. So I call him. “Scott, we have to tell your mom.”

“What?! No! We can’t tell her.”

“Why not? This is going to involve her too. You are going to be out late at night and you’re not always going to be able to account for your actions or behavior. Its better she finds out because you told her rather than figuring it out on her own or because you are shifting in front of her. Trust me, this is the better option. If you want, Dad and I can come over and help. She might take it better with another adult there.”

He is silent for a few minutes. “I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I know, neither do I. That’s why you should tell her.” 

“Okay.”

“Great. I’ll bring dad by with some food after he gets done with work. Your mom doesn’t go in till late, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll see you soon then.”

“Yeah, see ya.” He seems a bit distracted for the last part of our conversation, but he is probably trying to psych himself up for the talk he is going to have tonight. After that I call dad.

“Hey son, what’s up?”

“Um, Scott is going to tell his mom tonight about the whole werewolf thing, and I thought that as a fellow parent to the supernatural, you might be able to help her deal with it?”

He gives a long sigh. “Yeah, she should know. I just wish you kids didn’t have to deal with this shit.”

“I know dad, but we do. So I’ll see you at the McCall’s after you’re done with your shift?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

We hang up and I go downstairs to start making something to bring over, just a simple casserole. Derek walks in just as I put it in the oven. “I should go with you.”

“Listening in on my conversations now?” I let a small smile and light laugh out just to let him know I am teasing, but he stays serious as ever. It’s not like I’m being hypocritical or anything right now.

“Sorry, but, I should be there. Just in case.”

“Well, he won’t hurt his mom, and I could stop him before anything too terrible happened, but if it will help ease your guilt complex, then by all means come and enjoy the awkwardness that is sure to commence. On the up side, you will get to eat some of my terrible cooking. There’s always that to look forward to.” The corner of his lip rises in what could be taken as a smile, but looks more like a grimace, before he walks back up to his temporary room. “I’ll be ready to go in an hour, you can drive!”

…

“So that went better than I thought it would.” I say as I get in the passenger seat of the Camaro. Derek’s only response is an eyebrow movement. “Well it did. There was only minimal yelling, and dad got her calmed down pretty fast. Although honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. But at least now she can tell Coach that Scott can’t play in the game on Saturday so we don’t have to worry about him trying to go against our advice and playing anyway. She won’t let him put himself or others in danger. He’ll probably be broody for the next few days, but I know he’ll get over it.”

He grunts in acknowledgement, “As far as the Allison situation goes though-“ I am interrupted by a low growl. “Hey, I told you that he probably wouldn’t listen to me on that front. I don’t want him going after her either, but Scott doesn’t have a penchant for listening. He wouldn’t even listen to his mom about this one. I think it’s bad enough that she knows there are Hunters, forget the fact that her son is trying to date one.”

Derek doesn’t say anything for a while, in fact he doesn’t say anything until we get home. “Tomorrow I am holding a small service for Laura at the cemetery.”

I am a bit taken aback by that. It’s not exactly keeping quiet that he’s in town, but I guess that his presence would take some heat off of Scott. But why would he do that for someone he just met? “Would you mind if I came? I mean if you don’t want me there, it’s cool, I’d understand.” I don’t think that he should have to do something like that alone, but I really didn’t want to be around a lot of people when mom died, so I get the whole loner thing.

“If you aren’t doing anything else.” It is clipped, but there is a layer of vulnerability under it that doesn’t go unnoticed by me. 

“Then I’ll be there.” He nods and move into the house before I can say anything else. Derek isn’t used to expressing his emotions and I think I am taking him out of his comfort zone talking as candidly as I do, but I think it’s good for him. Sometimes it takes someone else giving you a kick in the right direction to let the healing process start. I don’t know why he does, but I get the feeling that Derek blames himself for the death of his family. Maybe someday he will be able to move past that, but for now, I am going to make sure that he feels welcome and safe. Or at least as safe as a hundred and forty-seven pound Kitsune can.

…

The next day I leave Scott in the hallway to make it to my jeep as fast as I can. Derek held off the small funeral until I got out of school so I could be there. Dad couldn’t make it since he had work, and Scott said he had to ‘study’. I know he is lying though. It wasn’t too hard to overhear the conversation he had with Allison, Lydia, and Jackson at lunch. They are going on a group date even though Derek and I have both warned him against it. I think he found an anchor in his mom though, so maybe it won’t go as badly as I think it will. 

It starts to rain just as I pull up to the cemetery, because nothing in Derek’s life can go right for once. I don’t have an umbrella, so I guess getting drenched is the only option. 

The Beacon Hills Cemetery isn’t that big; I am able to stop by mom’s grave before making my way back to the Hale lots. Their plots are on the edge of the woods, fitting for a pack of wolves. When I get there, Derek is standing under an umbrella. At least one of us thought ahead. He is staring at the filled plot of earth that now holds his older sister. “Hey.” 

He doesn’t look up as I approach or even after I am standing next to him. I wish I knew her to say something about her, but really, I didn’t know anything about the Hale’s other than that they were werewolves, and to keep my distance from them. “You know, she was a bit like you.”

I am shocked at first to hear his voice, then again that he would say anything about her. “How so?”

“She would talk on and on. She called me out on my shit. Never let me get too low. Wel,l not that she could tell anyway.” My hand finds its way to his shoulder in silent support. “If she knew I was trying to live in our old house, she would have beaten the crap out of me.” He gives a hollow laugh, but follows with a small, genuine smile. 

“Sounds like she and I would have gotten along.”

“The two of you would have been a nightmare.”

-“You mean I’m not already?” His smirk stays planted on his face and then falls into a scowl like he shouldn’t be smiling. “You know, she doesn’t sound like the kind of person who would want you to be miserable. If it were me, I’d want you to try and find some small kind of happiness. I know it’s easier said than done, but I’m sure she doesn’t want you to wallow in misery and hate for the rest of your life.” 

Maybe I’m overstepping my bounds here, but I can’t let this guy get so down on himself. “You’re right. It’s just going to take some time.” He says is so quietly, I am again unsure if I was meant to have heard it. So I just squeeze his shoulder again and wordlessly let him know that I am here.

I’m not sure how long we stand there, but the rain stops eventually, and the sun starts to go down. As we make our way back to the parking lot I hear labored breathing of stifled tears coming from one of the new holes in the ground. Derek hears it too and looks over to see Isaac Lahey sitting in the crane they use to dig up the graves. 

“Who’s that?” Derek is looking at him with curiosity and I see his nose flare in a telltale sign of taking in scent. 

“That’s Isaac Lahey. He’s in my grade and on the lacrosse team with me and Scott.”

“Why does he smell like he’s bruised?”

“You can smell that?”

“Yeah, the blood is closer to the skin than it should be.”

“Oh, well, I mean, I don’t know for sure, but I think his dad beats him. I’ve tried to help my dad get some evidence so that Isaac can get out of there, but Isaac always claims that it was something else, a door, lacrosse, got into a fight. He doesn’t talk much at school, and I am kind of pissed that none of the teachers notice. I mean it is there job, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.” He seems just as angry as I am about Isaac’s situation. 

“I keep my eyes and ears out for him, but there is only so much I can do. He has to want out himself before I can do anything more.” We don’t say anything more as we walk the rest of the way back, but I can tell that this will sit with Derek for a while to come. Maybe I can get Isaac to start sitting with me at lunch. If Scott is gonna hang with Argent and the popular crowd then I need to find some more friends.

…

After the game on Saturday, Scott starts getting shunned a bit from the rest of the team. Mostly because even though Jackson was hopped up on pain killers, he still played, and is now on the bench for the next week while he recovers, while Scott didn’t play at all in perfect health. Lydia has been giving him the cold shoulder as well, and has been trying to convince Allison to do the same. I kinda wish that she would do as her bitch of a best friend advises, but sadly she doesn’t. So while Scott goes off to sit with Allison at lunch I am left to find someone else to talk to. I really just want to stay as far away from the Argents as possible. 

Since the conversation with Derek in the cemetery, I have been keeping a closer eye out on Isaac, but he never sits in the lunch room to eat. I’m not really sure where he goes off to every day, so I will have to figure it out. 

I am actually on my way to do so when I notice that Erica Reyes is sitting by herself, tucked away in a corner of the lunch room. She has been in and out of school for the last few months due to some medical problems. Namely the seizures she goes through because of her epilepsy. Like Isaac and myself, most of the kids stay away from her, and only give her the time of day when she is mid seizure. I think the only reason I haven’t tried to befriend her before now, is because I have been trying so hard to hide what I am that I didn’t want to be friends with anyone that was in the spotlight, good or bad. It was selfish of me, and narrow minded to not be open to new people, but I was scared, and you don’t think rationally when you’re terrified for your life. Time to change all of that.

“Hey Catwoman, mind if I sit with you?” I at least give her the allusion that it is her choice.

She looks up at me with an almost incredulous face. “If I’m Catwoman, does that make you Batman?” A girl who knows her comics. Nice.

“I don’t know, I think I’m more of a Beast Boy, but if you wanna call me Batman, who am I to stop you.” I place my tray on the table and slip into the seat more gracefully than I normally would have. She raises an eyebrow at me, but after Derek’s constant communication with said movement, I just roll my eyes in response and start eating.

“Uh, not to be rude, even though I could care less, but, why are you sitting with me?” She looks around to see all of the other open tables and then back at me. “We haven’t talked since like, sixth grade.” She says this with an almost bitterness that makes me wince. That was the year mom died, and also about the time I stopped talking to anyone platonically except Scott.

But I can’t let it get to me. Not here, not now. “Well, I saw that you were sitting alone, and I was about to sit alone, so I thought, why not sit alone together.” 

She lets out a snort that most girls would have been afraid to have come out of them. I like this girl already, why weren’t we friends? “What happened to your shadow, McCall?”

“Well, he decided to go and attach himself to the new girl, and I am not all about being a third wheel.”

“That’s a lie.” She takes a bite of her apple from her sack lunch. 

“Not really.” It is mostly a lie, but not entirely.

“You don’t like her, do you?”

“What?”

She sighs like this is taking up her valuable time. “Look, I am alone, like, all the time. I notice things that others might not. Like how Lydia is smarter than she lets on to everyone, or how Scott somehow got so much better at lacrosse over winter break, or how you pretend to be clumsier than you actually are. There is definitely something more to you, Stilinski, I’m just not sure what it is. But I do know one thing for certain, you don’t like Allison and I doubt it’s because she is taking up more of Scott’s time now.”

“Wow. I’m not even gonna deny anything you said. Kudos to you for seeing that.”

“But the real question is, why don’t you like her if it isn’t because she is interrupting ‘bro’ time?”

The smirk on her face has me almost wanting me to tell her, but then I catch myself and smile back at her. “I have to keep some things a mystery, otherwise you’ll lose interest in me and not want to be my friend anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Yes, anymore, cause we are totally friends now.” She laughs, and it is almost one of the best sounds I have heard in a while. I know that she has been dealt a hard hand from life, and maybe I can help to make it a little better. 

“Whatever you say Stilinski.”

“Please, only Jackson and Harris call me that, you call me Stiles.” We go on to talk about comics and a few other things before the bell rings, just enough to help distract me from thoughts of Scott, but not enough to block out hearing that they are planning a date tonight. If Scott won’t listen to me, then maybe he has to learn the hard way. I just hope that I am there to help save his werewolf ass before it gets shot.

…

There is a part of me that wants to quit the lacrosse team. I mean, the only reason I really joined was because Scott wanted to. I like playing when I get the chance, but I can’t let my guard slip while in the middle of the game. I mean yeah, I could make it look like I am getting progressively better, and eventually make first line, become the hero jock, and gain all the fame and glory that comes with it. I could do that. But the sport is a bit too violent for me. I am much more of a pacifist, at least when it comes to starting fights. Don’t get me wrong though, I will fight if I have to, I just don’t like to. And with all the tackles, and sticks hitting random body parts, and balls flying everywhere, well, it’s just not for me.

The only problem is, if I quit, then there will be no one here for Scott. He isn’t off the team, and even though Finstock took him off first line, it won’t keep him out of games. Coach knows how good Scott is, and he won’t not play him. If Scott starts to lose control again, I need to be there to pull him away and help calm him down.

Just like now, “Stiles, have you ever had a dream that felt like it was real?”

“Yeah, but it’s just a dream…right?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I mean, I woke up in my bed, but it felt so real. Scary real.”

“Well, it could just be a dream. But then again, you are supernatural now, and with that comes a lot of strange things.” Scott groans and I clap a hand on his shoulder. “Welcome to my world buddy.”

We walk through the school doors and that is when I hear chatter coming in from the other side of the school. Something about a bus and blood and claw marks. Damnit! I pull Scott along with me so we can see what is going on.

When we get there, one of the school’s busses is being taped off for official investigation. I get a text and when I pull out my phone I see a message from dad. ‘something happened at the school, you and Scott okay?’ Scott’s heart rate is through the roof and I have to pull him off to the side of the building so he can calm down. 

“It was real! Stiles, I think I did that.”

Shit. ‘Can you maybe get Scott out of school today, I think he and Derek need a training session ASAP.’ I send it off to dad, and then another to Derek. ‘So, something happened at the school last night, and Scott needs some wolfy training, you up for the job?’

I get a response from dad first. ‘Done. Melissa will be there in a few to pull him out for the day. Be careful.’ Then one from Derek. ‘yes, where?’

I text a thanks back to dad, and then another message to Derek. ‘his mom is gonna pull him out of school for the day, so his house should be the best spot. Thanks dude!’

I don’t get a response after that, but at least I know that Derek is helping. I wish there was more I could do to help Scott, but I know virtually nothing about werewolves. At least nothing that will help in this situation. 

Later in Chemistry there is some noise coming from outside, a man is being pulled out of the nearby tree line on a stretcher. He is alive, but badly injured. I quick send a text to Derek letting him know the new development and to keep him appraised of the situation. I don’t think Scott hurt him, but we can’t know for sure yet. Derek will help him, he hast to.

…

 

By the time lunch comes around, the whole school is buzzing about the new turn of events. First Laura was found in the woods and now this guy. Dad said that he was taken to the hospital for an animal attack, but I don’t think that it was just any animal. And why this guy? I mean, if the Alpha was trying to create a pack, why try to turn a guy who has got to at least be in his forties? Why not someone younger? I tell dad as much, and he says that he is going to look into it. This can’t be a coincidence. 

I get my food and start to head for our regular table with Erica, when I see Isaac sitting at the end of the lacrosse team’s table. He isn’t engaging anyone in conversation, and looks like he really doesn’t want to be there. So without looking at Erica, I move to sit next to him, leaving plenty of room for him to leave if he wants to. Erica follows and sits down without batting an eyelash, but looks a bit uncomfortable doing so. This isn’t where she would normally put herself. Over the last week we have become pretty good friends, she has a sharp tongue that goes to waste not being heard by the rest of the student populace. 

“’Sup, Isaac?” He flinches minutely at being addressed, and it only makes my blood boil. No one should have to suffer through what he has. 

“Uh, not much?” The way it comes out as a question saddens me.

“Mind if we sit here?” Erica looks like she can’t believe what I’m doing, but seeing as I did the same thing with her, and it worked, well, why not use it again?

“No?” He looks like he is about to bolt. I have to keep him calm so he won’t. 

“Good.” Then I turn to Erica and start talking to her like I normally do. I try really hard not to look at Isaac, and Erica notices something’s up because she keeps sending me weird looks. Finally she has enough. 

“Sorry to bother you Isaac. I know you usually sit outside for lunch. Must not be able to because of the attack. I don’t know what Beast Boy here was thinking, but we don’t bite. Not unless you’re into that kind of thing.” The juice I was drinking almost comes out of my nose when she says the last bit. It is one of the reasons I love this girl. Blunt, but playful at the same time. A sarcasm to match my own. If only I liked girls.

Now I can’t help but to look at him though, and when I do I see a blush and the start of a smile. Gotta keep this up. “Well, she may bite, but I am much more of a cuddler. Not that I would cuddle someone against their will, I am not a cuddle raper. So if you want cuddles, then I’m all for it, if not, that’s cool too.”

Erica rolls her eyes but is smiling, while Isaac’s blush gets deeper, but he is sitting up a bit more in his seat. Slowly he starts getting dragged into our conversations about movies, comics, and music. The first time he smiles, I am mad that he doesn’t do it more often. He is like a little cherub, or rather a tall one. And that brownish blonde curly hair is adorable. I feel like he is the kid brother I never had. 

When the bell rings we make plans to eat together tomorrow at our regular table and invite Isaac to join us. He seems a bit reluctant at first, but as we leave I can tell that his heart is calm and he is less twitchy than normal. I have a moment before class starts where I am angry at myself for not trying to do this sooner. Isaac and Erica both needed someone, and I was more than able to be that person. How did I let myself get so self-centered? Mom wouldn’t be proud of the way I’ve acted. But that is the past, and now I can try to make up for my past mistakes. 

…

After school I go straight over to Scott’s house and find him and Derek out in the back yard doing some exercises. They both look like they could do with a shower, and I’m just glad that my nose isn’t that sensitive. “So how goes all things wolfy?”

They both look over to me as I toss them both a bottle of water I swiped from the fridge inside. “Better. I think I am finally getting the hang of this a little bit. I don’t know if I’ve said it yet or not, but thanks Derek. I really appreciate all the help you’ve been giving me.”

Derek looks shocked for all of two seconds before schooling his face and nodding back to Scott in acknowledgement. “You still need to work on it, but you are doing better.” 

Clapping my hands together I bring their attention back to me. “Great! Now, do we have a way to know for sure that it wasn’t Scott who attacked that guy? Dad text me and said that he is in intensive care, and they are unsure if he will make it or not.”

“There is a way.” Derek starts but then gets contemplative. Scott is about to ask when I hold up my hand to stop him. Derek will get there in his own time. I mean the sooner the better, but if it is wolfy training he got from his family then the memories are sure to be coming back when he is trying to pass on the knowledge to Scott. “We have to go back to the bus. Once we’re there, you will have to open your senses and let yourself relax. I should be able to talk you through it.”

“Good. We will have to wait for dark though, it is still a crime scene and school security is mediocre at best before nine, almost nonexistent after.”

Derek turns back to me. “You’re coming?”

“Uh, yeah. He is my best friend, you are a new friend, and what happens if you run into the Alpha? You might need my fire power, literally.” I light up three balls of fox fire to dance around my hand for show. Derek flinches so minutely that if I wasn’t looking at him, I might have missed it. I let it out and then think that he probably isn’t too fond of fire, seeing as it did kill most of his family. He just nods again in silence and moves into the house leaving Scott and me alone. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just should have known better.” Scott looks at me with those puppy dog eyes that say he doesn’t really get it, but he’s sorry for me anyway. It’s that look that makes me want to ruffle his shaggy hair. “Come on, you stink and we should get some food before we go all double-oh-seven tonight.”

“Yeah, and I have to call Deaton to let him know that I won’t be into work tonight.” It’s at the mention of the vet’s name that I remember who he is. He was the one who set up the basement to be a safe room for me. He used to work with the Hales before they died. I think mom referred to him as a Druid. I’ll have to ask Derek about it later.

We go in the house and make some quick sandwiches to eat before Derek and I head back to the house so he can shower and I can change into better sleuthing clothes than red flannel. When it’s time to leave, we just get in Derek’s car to pick up Scott so we can get this done. 

The drive to the school is quiet. Scott’s heartbeat is up and I can tell that he is nervous to get the answers he is looking for. Did he hurt the bus driver or was it just the Alpha. They head to the bus talking about what Scott needs to do to open up and let his senses tell him what happened. I stayed back to keep an eye and ear out for anything. There is one security officer on duty because of the crime that happened, and the Alpha is still on the loose. 

I try not to listen in to what they are saying, mostly because I am not a wolf and it’s not really something I can relate to. Also because I know Derek doesn’t want all the attention on him. He really is quite shy beneath the gruff exterior he tends to put off. 

But when they come back Scott is a flurry of emotions. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t hurt him, I was actually trying to help him!” He half jumps into the air grabbing me up in a hug that holds a little extra humph. 

“That’s great Scott, now put me down.” He does gleefully, but Derek is much more somber. “Okay, if you didn’t do it out of bloodlust, then why did the Alpha? Was it some form of initiation? Was he trying to turn someone else and it went horribly wrong?” Derek doesn’t respond, but I can tell that he doesn’t know the answers. This whole mess is just causing more problems and raising more questions. 

…

We drop Scott off and then head to the gas station on our way home. Derek needs a fill up and I want some snacks. So as he is pumping I go inside. It is only just as I cross the threshold of the door that I hear two other vehicles pull up as well. When I turn, neither one of them are there to get gas. Which can only mean one thing. Hunters. 

Derek is calm enough to keep going as if nothing is out of the ordinary, but I can tell that his heart rate spikes pretty quickly in the anticipation of what is to come. There are cameras here, so he can’t really wolf out and attack, but that won’t stop the Hunters from harassing him. “Nice ride.” That is the voice of Chris Argent. I only know it’s him, because he has been picking up his daughter from school all week. If he’s here, this definitely won’t be good. “Black cars, though. Very hard to keep clean. I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right? Personally, I’m very protective of the things I love. But that’s something I’ve learned from my family. And you don’t have much of that these days. Do you?” 

At that statement I almost rush out of there to confront the Argent asshole. Who the hell does he think he is? I mean really. But then I hear Derek whisper, “Don’t.” I look at him through the window, but he is still staring at Chris not wavering in his glare.

He puts down the window squeegee that he was using on Derek’s car. “You can actually look through your windshield now. You see how that makes everything so much clearer?” And the threat is so thinly veiled that I am infuriated even more than I was before. Forgetting anything to eat I move back to the door and open it quietly to stand just outside to see what happens next.

“You forgot to check the oil.” And this is the reason I want to keep Derek as a friend. When he does talk, it is all sass. Like sass to the max. I love it. 

Chris turns around to the Hunters that are on the other side of the Camaro. “Check the man’s oil.” He walks forward with his gun, and wait, what! He has a freaking gun out in public! And then proceeds to smash the driver’s side window with the butt of the gun. That is the last straw.

“What the Hell. What in the literal Hell do you think you are doing?” Chris looks a bit taken aback, and Derek looks like he wants to stand in front of me to guard me from these Neanderthals. “You do realize that Derek is a guest to the Sherriff, the Sherriff who happens to be my father. You just vandalized his car. That’s a felony.”

“Stiles, stay out of this.” Derek hisses trying to get me to back off.

“No. I am so sick of Hunters who think they can walk all over the place doing what they want, without consequences.”

“Hunters?” That is Argent’s only response.

“Yeah, I know what you are.”

He points at Derek. “Do you know what he is?”

“Yes, and if you’re not careful, you’ll find out what I am. Now are you going to pay for the damages, or will we be seeing you in court? Cause I have a feeling that this isn’t the first time something like this happened. I am pretty good at research, and I could probably find a whole slew of misdemeanors and felonies to have you guys locked up in legal battles for the next few years.” I am sure that my eyes are flashing green now, but the anger overtook me a bit. I haven’t lost control in a very long time, but these assholes are bringing it out of me. 

Chris steps back to his car and pulls out a checkbook then precedes to write a check and hands it to Derek when he’s done. I look at the numbers and see a five and two zeroes. Probably more than what is required, but this way we won’t have to go after them. “Good. Now, if you cause any problems for me or Derek here, you won’t be let off as easily next time. Drive safe.” My eyes narrow and all three of them get back in their cars and leave. After I can’t hear the engines anymore, my legs go weak and I would fall to the ground if Derek wasn’t there to catch me like a freaking damsel. 

“That was incredibly stupid! Why the hell would you reveal yourself like that?”

“He was just- and I couldn’t- I didn’t think-“

“No, you didn’t!” He helps me down to the ground and lets me rest there for a few minutes before continuing. “Stiles, now they are going to be watching you too.”

“I know. But, I couldn’t let them do that to you. No one deserves to be treated like that.” Neither of us says anything more. What more is there to say? 

After I get the feeling back in my legs I stand up and Derek cleans his car of the glass he can get for now. He will have to use the shop vac I have back at the house to finish up, and then get his window replaced. At least now we know the Hunters know about Derek, and thanks to my recklessness, they now know about me too. I don’t think they know what I am, but they know I’m not human. Just one more thing to put on the pile of shit we are already dealing with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I started to write this, I really didn't know how somethings were going to go. I knew that Stiles would befriend the Betas before they met Derek, and I knew that Stiles would be somewhat protective over Derek, but I didn't think he would do it the way he did. I love it when the characters tell me what they are going to to and refuse to change their mind on it. 
> 
> Side note: I am going to try and not bash Scott in this fic. If you have read my previous ones I did quite a bit of that. He is still somewhat stupid in his decision making, but in the end he will have the heart of gold that the show wants him to have, that I think he is lacking. I don't want to start a war here, I just don't agree with the way the show portrays him. So this is my slowly trying to fix that. 
> 
> As always thanks for you're support and please let me know what you think! Love to hear feedback from you guys, good or bad!


	3. Of Argents, Alphas, and so Many Problems...

It’s a few weeks later that Derek and I are out scouting for traces of the Alpha. He hasn’t shown any recent activity and it is setting us both on edge. Scott is still somewhat oblivious to everything, mostly because he is still so wrapped up in Allison when he isn’t training, doing homework, or working. But now he is at home asleep. It’s late, and if dad wasn’t working I wouldn’t be out here. But when Derek said he was going, I couldn’t let him go by himself. 

After about an hour of running around town he catches the scent. It leads through the industrial part of Beacon Hills, the mostly abandoned part. I don’t really know why or how this town has so much abandoned property, but it works for us right now, so I won’t complain. Then I hear some gunshots. Too far away for Derek to hear, but they are there none the less. “Derek, hold up!” I hiss out.

“What is it?” He stops and turns back to me. I’m not sure he trusts me one hundred percent yet, but he is getting there.

“I heard some gunshots. That means Hunters are out. We need to leave.”

“You can go, but I’m not losing this trail.” He turns to leave and I grab his arm attempting to stop him.

He stills under my touch and goes rigid. The fact that he let my hand stop him when he is much stronger than me goes to show that he is trusting me more and more every day. “Dude, if you continue, you might get shot. If it is Hunters out there, then you would probably die. Now, I’m not willing to take that risk. The Alpha isn’t going anywhere, we can continue the hunt another night when not everything in town is out to get us.” He glares at me for a few moments then sags in defeat. I let out a sigh of relief and we head back home keeping to the shadows and staying out of sight. 

…

The next day while I am sitting at lunch with Erica and Isaac I hear Allison tell Scott about how her Aunt Kate is in town. All I can think is great, more Argents. In everything that I have heard from Allison, she seems like a nice person, but without knowing if she is a Hunter or not makes it impossible for me to trust her with anything. 

I turn my focus back to my new friends and see that Erica is talking to us but not looking at us while she chatters on. She is staring off to the side. So I turn and see who or what she is looking at. Sitting at the end of a table with some others is Vernon Boyd. He’s a loner, quiet, big, smart if I remember right. Spinning back to face Erica, who has a small blush on her face, I can’t help but grin and sing-song. “Someone has a crush.”

“Shut it Beast Boy.” I kinda love the nickname thing we have going on.

“Why should I, Catwoman? You obviously like him, why don’t you go invite him over to sit with us?”

“Who would want to sit with the social rejects?”

I fake being affronted by the remark then smile. “Maybe he feels like a social reject, maybe he is just waiting to be invited to hang out. Did you ever think of that?” The look on her face tells me that she has, but she is still unwilling to do anything. I look to Isaac for some support, but he just has a small smile on his face at our exchange. I roll my eyes, “Girls, this is why I don’t get dates.”

Not leaving too much room for her to say something, I get up and walk over to the table where the darker boy is sitting. I hear Erica half yell, half whisper my name trying to get me to stop, but I am a bit too fast for that. 

Once I get to him, I place my hands on the table across from him and lean down so I am closer to eye level with him. “Hey, Vernon, can I call you Vernon, how’s it going?”

He looks up at me with the same blank look that he gives everyone. My first thought is how good of friends he and Derek would be. Derek talks more now than he did when we first met, but he still likes to pull out his signature glare all the time. “That’s good. Glad to hear it. I was just wondering if you might like to come and join me with the other misfit toys. You don’t have to, but over on that island, it’s always Christmas and we don’t have to worry about Santa coming around to deliver us to all the good boys and girls who will hate us anyway.”

That got two raised eyebrows, and a look over to Erica and Isaac. I turn just in time to see Isaac give a small wave and Erica thump her head on the table into her folded arms, but then looks up hopefully. “Okay.” At first I thought I was hearing things, but then he is gathering his stuff to follow me back. “But call me Boyd.”

“Sounds good.” We walk back across the lunch room and sit down, me next to Isaac and Boyd next to Erica. “Well, I’m Stiles, this is Isaac, and that lovely blonde bombshell is Erica.” She glares at me for a minute, but then turns to Boyd and says hi. Isaac nudges me under the table, and I can’t help but to laugh a little. Seems like our group is expanding and doing just fine. Our conversation returns to normal afterwards with Boyd only giving his input when directly asked, but that’s okay. He will open up in time, the others did.

…

When I get home Derek is sitting in the living room reading a book from my bookshelf. One of the older tomes Mom left me. I hate to break the calm quiet but he can tell that I am somewhat agitated when I walk in the door.

“What’s wrong?” He places a finger in the book and closes it giving me his full attention.

I sigh, “Nothing too major, just another Argent came to town. Allison was talking about her aunt that just got in last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the one I heard firing off their gun in the middle of nowhere.”

Derek stiffens as if he is anticipating the worst. “What’s her name?” 

“Uh, I think she said it was Kate?” He lets out a growl lower than all the others I have heard from him. That instantly lets me connect the dots. I continue in a much lower voice. “She’s the one who did it, isn’t she?”

His continuing growl is all the answer I need. Great. The pyromaniac murderer is back in town. Probably to help with the Alpha situation. I am about to tell him to cool it when an engine turning off in front of the house has me stopping and turning away from him. It isn’t a vehicle I recognize. Someone gets out; their heart beat is ticked up a bit higher than normal, more in excitement rather than nervousness. Then there is a knock on the door and Derek’s growl that had cut out, is now back full force. He tries to stop me from answering but I am a bit too fast for him and I am able to open the door before he can reach me. Only I wish he had been able to stop me, because standing on the other side is a blonde that smells like gun oil and wolfsbane, this must be Kate. 

“Well, you must be Stiles. Wonderful to meet you.” She looks over my shoulder, “And Derek, my, my. You have grown up in all the right places.” There is a lilt to her voice that tells me something happened between the two of them and it was more than words exchanged. “I don’t know whether I want to kill it or lick it.” That has my eyes burning and a jolt of electricity running through my fingertips. So not only is she a bitch Hunter who burned down Derek’s house with his family inside, but probably had a thing with him while he was underage. Considering that she looks to be in her mid-thirties, that means it was statutory rape. I don’t turn back to Derek, but I do move to block him from her view closing the door slightly with me. 

“What can I help you with?”

“Oh, I just thought that I should come by and see how poor Derek is doing. I heard about what happened to his sister, and thought I should pay my respects.”

“There’s no need to lie. I can hear your heartbeat so you may want to change your story, or you can just get the hell off my dad’s property. I’m sure he wouldn’t take kindly to having his son, or his guest harassed and threatened. He is the Sheriff after all in case you forgot.”

She laughs, “Oh, no, I haven’t forgotten. It’s actually why I’m here.” She moves almost too quickly for me to catch the baton she was holding behind her. The electricity sparks and crackles as it races up my arm. Derek is behind me retching open the door, but the look of shock on her face is priceless. The thing about electricity is that I am able to absorb it thanks to my fox fire. 

“Derek, back up.” He does reluctantly and I rip the baton out of her hand, and then look back at her with my eyes glowing green. “See, while that little trick might work with a werewolf, I’m not one. I’m something far more dangerous. Now, why don’t you go on back to the rest of you little Hunter family and tell them to back, the fuck, off. I am not messing around anymore. The next time any of you approach me I will take it as a declaration of war. If you think that I’m trouble, you have yet to encounter my father. While he may be human, he is in charge of the local law enforcement and he can have you strung up on charges for assault and a thousand other things so that you won’t be seeing the light of day for a very long time. Are we clear?”

She does back up as I am speaking, but it’s with a smile. “This game just a whole lot more interesting.”

“See, that’s where we have a slight difference of opinion. My life and the life of my friend here, not a game.”

“Maybe not to you sweetie, but it is one hell of a pass time for me.” She turns and walks away from the house back to the car. Once she is down the street I close the door and sag against it.

“One more time, I swear, one more time they try to harass either of us, and I am telling my dad what’s going on.”

“Stiles, you keep provoking them and they will come after you!” Derek yells in my face. “How stupid can you get!” 

“I’m sorry, I was only just stopping her from killing the both of us. And maybe I’m sick of hiding. I did it for so long, I’ve missed out on things and friendships that I should have had all along. These Hunters need to learn that they aren’t the only ones willing to fight around here.”

“That line of thinking is going to get you killed.”

“Yeah, well at least I went down swinging then. Tell me, what you would have done differently.” He stays silent, glaring at me. “Exactly. Now, maybe we should move onto more important matters. Like telling my dad the arsonist/murderer that killed your family is back in town.”

He stops glaring at me after that and pulls back into himself. “No.”

“No? What do you mean no?”

“I said no.”

“Derek-“

“No, Stiles.”

“You know what, I think I’ve about had it with this whole martyr complex you have going on. You are not the one to blame. I don’t care what she said or did to you, but the only person to blame for anything is her. You were only sixteen when all that shit went down, she used you. It’s not your fault. So you better get over this whole thing fast, because I am having none of it.”

He gets up in my personal space and is inches away from me now. “You. Don’t. Know. Anything.”

“No, I don’t know for sure, but from the way she acted, I can guess. I’m betting she was in her twenties and showed you some special treatment, seduced you, and then used what she knew about your family against you. She is the one that killed them, not you. Am I wrong?” He doesn’t say anything and backs off again. “Thought so. Now, I won’t say anything, as long as my Dad doesn’t ask. But you should tell him. He is working to reopen the case and is re-examining the evidence. Anything you know could help him.” Almost immediately I am sorry for talking the way I did. It was brash if not honest to the way I felt, but there were probably a thousand other ways I could have handled the situation better.

“Look, I’m sorry, I’m just getting sick of trying to balance everything the way I am. I hate lying to my dad, by omission or otherwise. This is something that could get settled by the law. She would go to jail and there is nothing that her, or her crazy family could do to stop it. If they came after you, then the law would protect you. Sometimes you have to let others handle the bullshit. That might be a hard concept for you, but you have to learn to do it. You aren’t alone anymore. I know Scott, Dad, and I aren’t the most convenient or practical pack, but we could be yours, if you let us.” There is a pained yet hopeful look in his eyes so I drop the conversation to let all of it sink in for him. I don’t know what he is going to do, but I hope that he will at least consider it. 

…

There are three more deaths that happen before the next full moon. One is to a video store clerk and a previously convicted for arson. Derek took Scott to scope that one out while I was with my father on the ground. Jackson and Lydia both are a bit rattled by the whole thing seeing as they were at the store when it all happened. Lydia seems to be in a state of shock, probably unable to process what she saw, while Jackson reverts to his douchey self. I don’t think he saw anything, and Scott confirms it later when he overhears Danny talking to him on the field during practice one day. I’ve taught Scott about how to listen for the tick or upbeat that the heart gives off while lying. Something that will probably come back to bite me in the ass later on.

The other two deaths are of known arsonists and have a list of priors on their records, basically skum. Coincidently they were burnt husks when their bodies are found. At first, the string of somewhat random deaths seems to be just that, random. But now, with the death of the arsonists, it is raising some questions and not only with myself. Dad kept looking into the others who were killed. The bus driver was apparently a former insurance investigator for the Hale fire. The two that were burned and the video store clerk all had misdemeanors and other problems with the law, so it wouldn’t be a far reach to say that whoever is killing these people is really trying to extract some sort of revenge. But that doesn’t make sense either. 

“I mean, you aren’t the one killing people. We know that. So who the hell could be doing it?”

“I don’t know.” Derek’s eyebrows are drawn in together in frustration. We have been going over possible suspects for the last few days and have so far come up with nothing. Well, I have had one idea, but it would be a far stretch, and I don’t really want to tell Derek what it is. He only has the one remaining family member as it is. “Laura had a list of names before she left. She didn’t tell me what it was for, but I found it yesterday after I was going through some of the things she left here. On it were the names of the people that have been killed. The only one that hasn’t been yet is Adrian Harris.”

“Harris! As in my Chemistry teacher?”

“What?”

“He teaches Chemistry at the high school. Do you think he will have any answers?”

“Maybe, but how do we ask him?”

“We have to give that list to my dad. He will know how to follow the proper channels, and will be able to question him legally. I know you want to get the answers yourself but this is probably our best bet right now.” 

He ushers out a low growl for a moment before jerking his head in a nod. 

We wait until dad gets home and then present him with said list. He takes it and says that he will look into it tomorrow. Then after dinner, Derek decides that he is going to go and see if he can pick up any new traces of the Alpha. Dad is already in bed, so I sneak out my window and meet him at his car. “Stiles, go back in the house.”

“I think we already had this conversation. If you are going out, I am going out. You know you aren’t strong enough to take on the Alpha by yourself, so I am going as your back up.”

“Your father-“

“-won’t know that I left unless you tell him. But then you would have to explain what you are doing, and while he may be able to ground me, he will give you the disappointed father stare. And trust me, that is not something you really want to be on the receiving end of. So, I’m going.” I don’t give him any more room to argue as I slip into the passenger seat. He grumbles as he gets in, but doesn’t say anything more on the matter. 

We drive around for a few hours before we get a text from Scott. The Alpha made contact with him. What! We drive over to his house and he is waiting on the front steps looking kind of freaked. “Dude, what happened?”

“I was getting in the car and I thought I heard something, I thought it was you, Derek.” Derek has been springing surprise training sessions on Scott to see how he would react. It’s kind of mean, but also kind of helpful. “But then I got his scent, and I booked it for the car. I only just managed to get in, but he knew I was there. He drew a spiral in the condensation on the window and then left.”

“Did you get anything off of him? An Impression?”

“What do you mean?” Scott doesn’t get what Derek is trying to ask, and I guess that’s fair. He hasn’t had to use his senses like this before. I want to step in, but at the same time, they need to be able to bond and get closer with each other. They are kind of a pack now. So I don’t say anything, and let Derek continue. 

He gets a bit frustrated, but he doesn’t let it show as much as he might have a month ago. “Remember you other senses are heightened. Communication doesn’t have to be spoken. What kind of feeling did you get off of him?”

Scot thinks a moment before responding. “Anger.”

“Focused on you?”

He thinks on it some more, “No, not… Not me. But it was definitely anger. I could feel it. Especially when he drew the spiral. What does it mean?”

Derek looks like he is about to give a false answer or just brush it off, but he has to learn that he can’t do that anymore. “Derek, what does it mean?” Maybe if I am the one to push him he will tell a bit more. Not that he trusts me any more than he does Scott.

He hesitates a few more minutes but finally gives in. “It’s our sign for vendetta, for revenge. If he’s leaving this symbol around, then that means he won’t stop killing until he’s satisfied that the debt has been settled.”

“Well, that’s not completely new news, is it? I mean we thought that that this is what it might mean, right?” We had only been talking about this earlier. “But the big question here is, who is doing this? Who wants revenge and what for? I mean all signs point to the fire, but who would want to get revenge for that?” Derek looks dumbfounded, which on him looks kinda, cute? That’s an odd thought. His eyebrows are scrunched together and his eyes are slits with this little frown on his face. 

“I don’t know.” It’s all Derek can say, and after he falls into a silence unlike any of the others I have seen from him. I tell Scott to try and get some sleep and that I will see him in School tomorrow. He then reminds me that we have a lacrosse practice after school for the semifinals game the day after. That is like the last thing I can think of, but Dad said he would be there. A bunch of us got put on first line because of a bought of pink eye that ran through the team. Scott is back on first line too, so I know this will be a major game for him and his mom. Derek game him the okay, but told him to cut back on some of the wolfiness. He didn’t state it like that, but it’s pretty much the same. 

…

After practice dad sends me a text saying he has some new information. So I grab Scott and bring him with me. This is pack business, so he needs to be informed too. When we get there Dad and Derek are sitting at the kitchen table with coffee and a few files. It looks like Derek has given an official statement, and I have a silent moment of awe. He was finally brave enough to tell the officials what happened. That is a big step. I wonder what made him do it.

“So what is it you found?” Dad moves some papers around to try and hide a few things from view, but it’s too late. I already saw some of it. 

“I talked to Harris while you were at practice. It seems that Laura was talking to him about the fire. That he would have a lead.”

“Did he?”

“Kind of, that’s how this gets tricky. I know that we have you’re statement, Derek, but the prosecution is going to want some hard evidence. The only thing Harris could tell me is that the woman who he talked to was blonde and that she had this pendant.” He shows us a small scrap of paper that has a crudely drawn emblem of a wolf with a few other things, it looks like a family shield, like from back in the old days when family names actually held weight and substance because of property and wealth, not fame and fortune. 

Scott sucks in a breath and shuts his eyes as if he is in pain. “Scotty? What is it? Do you recognize it?”

He nods his head. “On a necklace.” He opens his eyes and looks at my dad. “Allison Argent’s necklace. She said she got it for her birthday from her aunt, it’s a family heirloom.” We all tense at that. She got it from Kate. 

Derek tenses and I stop listening dad and Scott talk as I hone in on Derek’s heartbeat which has skyrocketed. I look at dad and then he nods and I make my way over to Derek to grab his arm. At first he flinches out of my hold, but the second time he is looking me in the eyes and I jerk my head to the back door. He seems to get what I’m trying to get him to do, and comes with me. I know that Scott and my dad keep talking, but all I can think about is getting Derek to a better place mentally. 

As soon as we hit the tree line I poke his shoulder. “You’re it.” And I take off into the woods full tilt. It only takes him a few seconds to realize what he is meant to do, but with a light scoff he takes off after me. 

I’m not sure how long we run, but the game of tag turns into just running in comfortable silence. Lacrosse practice allows me to stretch certain muscles, but running like this stretches whole different ones. By the time we decide to slow down it is almost dark outside and we are near the school. The silence continues, save for the slight panting of breath coming from both of us, but I feel that I have to say something. “I know you don’t want to, and least of all to some spazzy kid like me, but if you ever need to talk, you know I would be more than willing to listen, right?”

“Are you sure you could even shut up long enough to let someone else speak?” With that I know he is better. But I need him to know I’m being serious here. I give him a smile, but don’t mince any words.

“I mean it Derek. I know it’s not easy, but you can trust me. Loyalty is something I learned from my father, and it’s not something I take lightly. If you ever need to talk, or not talk, or run through the woods, I’m here.” 

He nods and then looks me over again with a gaze I can’t quite make out what it means. “I didn’t realize that you would be that fast.”

“Well, I did have a few things working in my favor.”

He raises and eyebrow in mock questioning. “Like?”

“Well, first off, Kitsune are faster than werewolves, mostly because our muscle structure is slimmer than yours. We tend to be wiry and slight. I’m actually a bit tall, but that is the human side kicking in I guess. Then there is my clan.”

“You’re a Forest Kitsune, aren’t you?”

I am a bit taken aback by that. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“Well, the fact that you didn’t leave a trail for me to follow was the first tell the second was that you weren’t making any noise as you ran through the underbrush. There were too many dead twigs and leaves for that to be a coincidence.”

“Yeah, but how did you know about the different clans? Most people don’t even know there are different types, let alone what a Kitsune is to begin with.”

“I was raised to be Laura’s second. The second is the one that is supposed to deal with pack relations and have a basic knowledge of most creatures.” A faint blush appears on his cheeks, “Kitsune intrigued me because of what you can do. You are similar to a wolf, but different in other aspects.”

“Dude, that’s impressive!” I am also proud of the fact that he was able to mention Laura without getting down on himself. I don’t know why I feel proud though, I really have no right to, but the feeling is there all the same. 

He shrugs his shoulders but I can tell the small praise was accepted by him. Just as I think we are about to have a bro moment, his head turns and scents the wind. That action is enough for me to open up all of my senses and hear what he must smell. The Alpha. There is a stench of fear with it that is only getting stronger and we rush toward the school in hopes to help whoever is in trouble. 

It’s coming from Harris’s room and Derek gets in there in just enough time to duck Harris down as a wooden shelving unit comes hurtling at them. I let loose a ball of electric fox fire and catch the Alpha in the chest. It isn’t enough to make him stop, but is enough to send him running. Before Harris can look back up, I slip out of the room and quietly tell Derek that I am going to see if the Alpha really left and also get away so Harris doesn’t recognize me. 

I am only a few feet down the hallway before Derek is by my side. “If you’re going, I’m going.” Of course he would throw those words back in my face. I can’t help the sigh and small laugh that comes out and Derek responds with a smirk of his own. He has humor, when he chooses to employ it. It doesn’t happen often, but when he does, it is dry and snarky. 

The trail leads to the woods his scent tapers off and another scent starts up. It’s a perfume that I recognize and a stench of sanitizer that can only come from one place. “Derek, he’s at the Hospital.” He stops and gives me a questioning look. “Can you smell that perfume and the other scents with it?” He nods. “That’s from the hospital. Ms. McCall smells like that sometimes when she takes a shift in the long term care ward. Derek, I think the Alpha might be your uncle.”

…

Derek was quiet the entire way home. He didn’t say anything or even look at me. It’s like he had this thought too but was afraid to voice it out loud. Now that it has been, there’s no taking it back. It is a very real possibility that it could he his Uncle, and if it is, that means he killed Laura. His own niece. 

Knowing that this is going to be hard for Derek to wrap his head around I leave him alone as I get ready for school. Dad has the day off so I tell him to look out for Derek and to not let him leave alone. Knowing him, he would try to confront his uncle alone and that can only end badly. 

School takes forever to move through. Once at lunch, my new friends pick up on my distracted mood. “Okay, what’s going on that has you all funky?”

“Nothing. Just, not a great day.”

“Beast Boy, you know that you can’t really lie to me right? I mean, we can all tell that something serious is going on with you lately.” She wavers for a moment and then adds quietly. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No. I mean, thanks and all, but there really isn’t.” Then I start to think about the curfew that my dad was going to have implemented today. “Actually, there is something. The Sherriff’s department is going to issue a curfew of nine thirty for anyone under eighteen, and I would really appreciate it if you guys would actually follow it.” I look each one of them in the face to let them know how serious I am about this. They all look at me with wary eyes, but it fades to one of acceptance. 

“Sure thing.” Isaac’s voice comes out a bit weak, but I know that he will do as I just asked. 

“I don’t know why, but if you insist. It’s not like I have anything else to do anyway.” That makes me feel a bit guilty too. In the month that we have been sitting with each other for lunch and some shared classes, we have never hung out together outside of school. Usually because I am too busy dealing with werewolfy business, but I really need to fix that. 

“Sorry about that. Maybe after all the crazy is over I can have you guys over for a pizza and movie night. We can each choose our favorite and the others have to watch it no matter what. Deal?” Boyd nods and Erica brightens up a bit.

“I would have to ask my dad first, but it sounds like fun.” He shrinks into himself a little and I slowly put my arm around his shoulder bringing him into a side hug.

“Well, seeing as you would be going to the Sherriff’s house, I don’t see how he could possibly say no. It’s not like we will be up to anything illegal.” We both laugh at that. Hopefully Isaac will be comfortable to get the help he needs soon. I really want him to get the support and caring family he needs. 

It’s not long after that, that the bell rings for next period and we all start making our way to our next class. Before I can get much further than the door an hand wraps around my upper arm and starts pulling me in the direction of the girls bathroom. “Erica, what are you doing?”

She doesn’t say anything until we are in the bathroom with the door locked from the inside. “What is really going on Stiles? You seem majorly spooked.” The fact that she has used my name rather than the nick names we usually refer to each other as says how much she is really worried. “Does this have to do with that weird glowing aura you sometimes have around you?”

And, wait, what! “Glow- what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes I can see this faint dark green aura around you. It kinda looks lupine but the edges are too sharp.”

And that is the Kitsune Aura, my Aura. “Erica, when do you see it?” I am always really careful to keep it hidden. I am sure that I have never once let it slip out at school. 

“I don’t know. I guess it’s when I start to get the feeling of a seizure coming on. I get that nasty metallic taste in my mouth and my eyes can’t help but to focus on you. Before we started hanging out they always just drifted to the left, but now even when you are on the right, they move towards you.”

“You’ve been having seizures and not telling anyone?” The incredulous tone is not to deter from the subject, but out of worry for my friend. 

“No, those are just usually the signs that one is coming, but I’ve been on this new medication that is helping to stop it. Now stop evading the question and tell me what is going on.” Her gaze keeps mine and I am unable to look away.

“Erica, there are things that I really want to tell you about myself, but right now isn’t a good time. I don’t want you to get dragged into this shitstorm that I am currently wading through. But after things are taken care of, I promise I will tell you anything you want to know. Well anything that I am able to anyway. Which about me, means just about everything. I promise.” I am not above groveling and pleading with her to agree with me. I can’t let her get put in danger. Not while she is still oblivious to the supernatural, although, not quite as oblivious and I previously thought.

“You better. At first I thought I was going mad. But then it kept happening.” Her tone lightens and she takes a step towards me. “I just want you to be safe, Stiles. You’re my friend, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Ditto. That’s why I can’t tell you anything yet. But soon, I promise. I hope.” She nods at me and then surprises me with a hug that crushes me a bit more than I was expecting. 

“You better stay alive, Beast Boy. If you die, I will bring you back to life and kill you myself.” 

I hug her back tightly as well and rub my cheek against her temple. She won’t know that I’m scenting her, but it is comforting non the less. “I will do my damn best, promise.”

…

The rest of school goes about the same as the first half. Me tense and Scott not really reacting at all. He is like laser focused on Allison these days, and only training can pull him away from that. But today that is a good thing. I know Derek will want to go and see Peter just to make sure that he isn’t the Alpha, and I won’t let him go alone. I really hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. 

The whole drive home I am trying to figure out how I am going to convince Derek of what is possible. When I finally get there dad is gone but Derek is pacing back and forth in the living room. He is usually so still that it is starting to freak me out a little bit. Especially because he has been pacing for the last fifteen minutes. “Dude! What is going on?” He glares at me but doesn’t stop pacing. “Sometimes, if you talk out what is bugging you with someone else, it can help you process and gain insight. So, tell me what is rattling around in that head of yours.”

He makes two more laps of the room and then stops in the middle to face me in the doorway to the kitchen. “If my Uncle is the Alpha, that means that he Killed Laura for the power. He killed his own niece. Why would he do that? Why would he kill one of is only remaining family members? When I visited him in the Hospital a few weeks ago, he couldn’t even move, how could he be the Alpha that has been on a rampage for the last two months? It doesn’t make sense, Stiles. He wouldn’t do that.” 

His voice is shredded like he has been screaming for days. “I’m sorry Derek. I don’t know what to tell you. I really hope that it isn’t him. Like, I am massively wishing on everything that he isn’t. But what if he is? How are we going to deal with it?”

His gaze drops from me and turns to face the wall. When he speaks again he is calm and collected and his voice no longer carries the harsh quality it had before. “I don’t know. First we have to figure out if it’s him or not.”

“Okay, we should-“

“Tonight. I am going tonight. With or without you.” 

“Okay. How about we go for a run first. Burn off some of that excess energy you have.”

“Stiles, I don’t-“

“Nope, you need this, and we are going, so put on some tennis shoes and some workout clothes. You thought that chase the other night was intense, well, you haven’t felt the burn yet.” I go up to my own room to change into a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. I fill up two water bottles and toss one at Derek when he enters the kitchen in a pair of his own shorts and a tight fitting t-shirt. “Okay, I know a few trails that we can follow, if you need to stop, let me know cause I can keep running for a while.” He nods and we head outside to hit the forest behind the house. 

We run for a few hours only stopping a few times to catch our breath. By the time we make it back to the house and shower it is almost eight. We hop in my jeep and go to the hospital. Scott calls me just as we park. “Dude, where are you? You know if you’re not here you’re not going to play right?”

“If I’m not where?”

 

“The semifinal! Dude, you’re first line. Your dad is coming remember?”

Shit! I totally forgot about the game. “Okay, look, if you see my dad just, just tell him I’ll be a little late. I’ll be there.”

“Okay dude, better hurry!”

“Okay thanks, bye.”

“You’re not going to make it.”

“I know, but this is more important and he doesn’t need to worry about it right now.”

“Okay then, let’s go.” He starts to get out of the car and I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “What?!”

“You’re not going in there. Not yet.” He gives me a look that says ‘Really?’ “Look, if he is the Alpha and we go in there guns’ blazing, then he is going to be on the attack. At this point we don’t know what is going on, so I suggest that I go in and scope things out. Then if it’s clear we can go, if not then by all means charge in and save the day.” He looks like he is about to argue with me but then backs off.

“Fine. But we are going to be on the phone so I can hear what is going on.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say sourwolf.” He bristles at the nick name but slumps back into the seat. There is a tense line along his body but I can’t really blame him for that. 

So I get out of the car and quickly make my way to the long term care wing after calling Derek’s phone. The place seems kind of empty, which is strange and should be a tip off of some sort, but I brush it off and continue to the room that is supposed to hold Peter. 

Once I get to the door the bed is made and a wheelchair is sitting in the room unused. “Derek.” I don’t have to say anything else, I can’t, because he hung up on me. I back up and as I turn to look down the hallway, there he is. Peter Hale. Burn wounds still on his face and wearing a black leather trench coat.

“You must be Stiles.”

I turn to leave and almost run into a red head in a nurse’s uniform. “What are you doing here? Visiting hours are over.” There is a vague smell of wolf about her, but that must be from hanging out with Peter, not because she is one herself. 

“Well this makes some kind of sick amount of sense.” My heart is beating really fast and I know that Peter can hear it. I can’t really say much more without giving myself away, but then I hear Derek coming and I turn mostly towards Peter not knowing where Derek is going to come in at. But then I hear the sound of bone breaking and a thump on the floor. Okay, so he took out the nurse. 

“Well that’s not very nice. She’s my nurse.” The way he says it is pretty much, ‘I don’t care, but I’m going to be snarky anyway’. 

“She’s a psychotic bitch helping you kill people.” He looks at me for a millisecond, “Get out of the way.” It is almost gentle the way he says it, unlike the reprimanding tone he is using with his uncle. I can’t believe he is keeping his shit together right now. Like seriously, how is he handling this?

I step just out the way, but keep my body poised to strike should I need to. “You think I killed Laura on purpose? One of my own family?” They walk toward each other and finally Derek has had enough and partially shifts then launches himself at Peter. But Peter is too fast and catches him mid-air and slams him into the wall, that dents upon impact. Yeah, this isn’t going to go unnoticed. I will have to get dad or Ms. M. to delete or get rid of any video footage. I scramble out of the way, but the bodies moving about don’t give me a clear line of sight to fire anything off, so I have to make do with biding my time. “My mind, my personality, were literally burned out of me. I was being driven by pure instinct.” He drops Derek on the ground next to the nurse and leans over to grab a set of keys out of her pocket. 

Just as Derek starts to get up, I launch a few balls of electric fox fire at Peter all hitting him in the chest. But it only causes him to stagger a bit. I go over to Derek and pull him away. “Derek, we need to get out of here. Now!”

“You want forgiveness?” He continues to talk to his uncle as if I’m not there, but he does let my hands hold him back from pursuing any further. I stand in front of him with a few balls of light dancing in front of me as a clear warning. 

“I want understanding. Do you know what it was like, all those years, slowly healing, cell by cell? Even more slowly coming back to consciousness.” His words are slow and spaced, like he is still getting used to talking again. Which he probably is. “Yes, becoming an Alpha, taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process. I can’t help that.” 

He truly is crazy. I mean yeah, being stuck in a body that won’t do what you want would do that to a person. Put the wolf side of you on top of that? Yeah, you would be one messed up person. 

“I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done. You killed Laura. She’s dead and she’s never coming back. You are the one who did that.”

“No she isn’t Derek, but you went and got yourself a pet. A Kitsune, really?” He stops looking over my shoulder at Derek and starts looking at me. “And here I thought wolves and foxes didn’t get along.”

“Yeah, well, I tend not to follow the rules.” He laughs and at this point I have had enough of this bull. We need to get out of here. So I hurl all the balls of light at him and then just as he is dealing with the blinding light and voltage running through him, I grab Derek and bolt it out of there. I know he won’t be happy, but there is no way we can take him down in the middle of the hospital hallway. We need to regroup and we need a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So again we have Stiles being somewhat of an asshole in the way he speaks. A lack of filter, one might say. Also, having to change the way like, everything, is handled because Stiles is an unpredictable force and changes the rules of the game. I love writing him snarky and defiant to the Argent's faces, and then immediately after, it's like all the energy washes out of him. I guess you could call him stupidly brave. Doesn't think about how bad it could go until it is already done. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! Love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Also, can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter. I am so messing with the way things ran...


	4. End of a Regime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, slight amount of Dub-Con

I call Scott the second I know we are free. “Dude, where are you? You missed the game and you’re dad is looking for you.”

“We are on our way back to my house. When you’re done you need to get there ASAP. Shit is real, and shit is bad.” He agrees and then hangs up. 

When we get home, dad still isn’t there, so Derek and I go into the living room. Derek looks like he is on the verge of a panic attack or ripping the furniture to shreds. Either way, not good. I am still freaking out a bit that my theory turned out to be true. I get why Derek is the way he is right now. I don’t think there will be any reasoning with Peter, so that really only leaves one option. And I know it’s one that neither of us is going to be okay with. 

Scott doesn’t show up until almost a half an hour after we got home. It should have only taken him like ten minutes. When he walks through the door his heart is beating faster than is normal and Derek is up right behind him shutting the door. “What did he do to you?” 

“What did who do?”

“The Alpha, Peter. He was in the locker room. He tried to convince me to join him.” Scott goes and sits on the couch while Derek and I stand next to each other in mirroring poses with our arms crossed. “After I refused, he said something about seeing his point of view and then dug his claws into the back of my neck. Before I could do anything I started to see things.”

Derek’s eyebrows are drawn in tight together. “What kind of things?”

“I’m not entirely sure, there was fire, and people screaming, and then all the people that have died recently. The ones he’s killed.”

I look over to Derek in question of ‘what the hell’. He looks back at me with some worry covered up by a lot of anger and confusion. “It’s something that takes a long time to learn. When a wolf sinks their claws into someone’s spine they can access memories. They can take, view, or share their own. It sounds like Peter shared his memories of the fire and those connected with it. What else did he want?”

“Nothing. After he did that, he left. It took me so long to get here because I wasn’t able to move after he did that.”

“Well then it looks like you already know our bad news. We went to the hospital to see if the Alpha was Peter, and now we know he is.” Derek grunts and walks into the kitchen.

“Is he okay?”

“What do you think, Scott? He just found out that it was his uncle that killed his sister. How do you think he’s doing right now?” Scott flinches at my words just as Derek walks back into the room with a glass of water for Scott. It is kind of surprising that he would do that, but then at the same time it isn’t. Derek has grown closer to us since we have spent most of our free time with him. We are slowly, if not already, becoming a pack. Never thought I would be a part of one. Never thought I would need it. I’m glad I was wrong. 

“We need a plan.” Derek’s voice is low and a little gruff.

“Right, well we can’t take him out in public. We need to lure him away from there to make sure that we aren’t seen and that he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“Knowing Peter, crazy or not, he will have a plan. Whatever we do has to match whatever he can throw at us. I don’t think he is turning more Betas. He found out with Scott that it is too unpredictable. But that means he is going to keep trying for us. He wants us on his side and he will do anything to get us there.” Derek looks at Scott and we all know that he is talking about Allison. 

“Does she know? Have you been able to figure that out or not?”

“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t, but I have heard her aunt say a bunch of stuff to her. It’s like she is trying to lead her to the right conclusions.” Derek almost winces, and I want to smack Scott, but then I remember that he doesn’t know what I do about Kate. I will have to sit down and have a long heart to heart with him about that soon. 

“She’s the last.” At first I don’t know what Derek is talking about. It takes me a moment to remember the list.

“Everyone else on the list is dead. He knows that Harris really didn’t have anything to do with it, so the last person is Kate.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s the one who burnt my house and family to the ground.”

Scott’s eyes bug out of his head. “She did what? How do you know? Are you sure?”

“Yes, Scott. He’s sure. She is dangerous and I don’t want you to hang out at her house anymore. We haven’t told your mom about Allison’s family yet, and I won’t. But if you keep going over there, they are going to figure it out. They are trained to recognize werewolves in everyday life. If you want to hang with her, go to your house or something. But from now on, the Argent household is a no-go zone.”

He doesn’t even fight me on this one. Even when he leaves he is still reeling from the shock of the information he learned. Just after he left, Derek went up to his room and slammed the door closed. An obvious way of telling me that he doesn’t want to talk tonight. Part of me wants to go and knock anyway, but I know that it wouldn’t get me anywhere. I’m a bit lost and I don’t know what to do. 

Dad gets home about an hour later saying that he had to take care of some things at the station and then asks me where I was. So I tell him what happened tonight and he sits down hard at the kitchen table. “Damnit kid, this is why I didn’t want you involved with all this shit.” He pours himself a glass of whiskey and downs it before pouring another.

I put my laced hands together on the table and stare at them, unable to look my dad in the face. His disappointment is enough to take without having to see the look I know is in his eyes. “I know dad, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let them face this on their own, not when I had a chance to help.”

He is quite for a few minutes, and then surprises me with his next words. “You are so much like your mother.” I look up at him.

“What?”

“She would have been doing the same things you are. Hell if she were alive, she would be right alongside you. Probably getting into more trouble than you are even.” I don’t really know what to say to that. Dad never talks about her. He still wears his wedding ring, and there is a bottle of her favorite perfume on top of his dresser next to her picture, but he never says anything about her. “I miss your mom.” He moves to pour himself another glass, but I put my hand on his to stop him. “Thanks.” It sounds like the alcohol has gotten to him a little bit. 

There are so many things I want to say to him right now, but when I open my mouth the words won’t come out. Like how scared I am, how much I wish that he didn’t have to deal with all of this, that it might be better if he didn’t know anything about the supernatural at all. How much I love him. 

His eyes are drooping a bit and I know that he will pass out here if I don’t help him up to his bed. So I move around the table and grab one of his arms and sling it across my shoulder. “Come on old man, let’s get you to bed.” He makes a noise of agreement and I heave him up and start to half walk, half carry him to the stairs. I don’t have supernatural strength so carrying his weight is pretty hard. But I manage. Just as I hit the bottom of the stairs, Derek is there at the top. He comes down and wordlessly takes his other arm and helps me move him. 

Dad starts talking some nonsense about wolves and family, most of it I try to tune out. I am on the verge of tears as it is, if I listen to anything else he says I know I won’t be able to hold them back. 

After we get him on the bed, I take off his shoes and tuck him under the covers, then place a kiss on his forehead and let him fall into sleep. When I close the door, Derek is standing there leaning against the wall. “Stiles-“ I just shake my head. I can’t deal with his right now. 

“I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” Not even letting him respond, I close my door and then move to the closet and shed all my clothes turning into the fox. I can’t cry in that form so maybe I can hold out a bit and get my emotions under control. 

Once inside I curl up into the small nest I made myself there and bury my head under my tail in an attempt to forget everything and fall asleep.

…

The first thing I notice before I am all the way awake is a warm presence that is almost surrounding me. I take a deep breath and find that I am sitting In Derek’s lap. We are still in my closet and the door is still closed. That means that he came in after I fell asleep and I didn’t even wake me up. I am not usually so deep of a sleeper. So naturally I start to freak out.

“Hey, hey, calm down. You’re alright. Sorry if I startled you, I just thought that you could use some company.” His hand starts stroking over my fur. I don’t know how I should feel about it. I think I should feel violated or something, but the action is soothing and I can’t make myself move. Actually I push up into his hand. I don’t know how long the motions continue and I can’t quite stop the soft purr that is coming out of my chest. “You ready to face the world yet?” I burrow myself a little deeper in my tail and what must be his thigh. “Yeah, me either.” 

He doesn’t say anything more, and keeps up the soft strokes along my back. I don’t know how long we sit there for, but long enough for my dad to get up and leave for work and for the clock downstairs to go off a few times. 

Eventually I feel like it’s time to get up and see what life has in store next to screw us over with. So, slowly, I make my way off Derek’s lap and he opens the door for me, and then moves out to the hallway. “I’ll be downstairs. Come down when you’re decent.”

The door closes behind him. Shifting back to my human form is strange after the night and morning I just had. What the hell was all that? Why did Derek come in and sleep in my closet with me? I run my fingers through my hair in frustration, but make sure to not make any noises that would give myself away. Instead I get dressed and make my way to the bathroom to relieve myself and stare in the mirror. 

I think the thing that is throwing me is that last night was the first time I slept all the way through the night since mom died. Usually I get woken up by small noises in the neighborhood. But last night I didn’t wake up once. I don’t know what to make of that. 

Finally I get downstairs to the smells of bacon frying and eggs being scrambled. Without saying anything I set the table and fill two glasses with milk. Derek brings over two plates of food and we start eating in silence. Well that is until I have to open my big mouth. “So… what was that about?” Derek just gives me one of his patented eyebrows. “Don’t look at me like that. You know exactly what I’m talking about, sourwolf.”

His almost smug look turns a bit sheepish and I instantly feel guilty for verbally attacking the guy, but I don’t know why. “I could sense your distress, and when a pack member is in pain, you give them comfort. I’m not always good with words, so I thought a physical presence would be better.” I just kinda gape at him. It’s pretty undignified, but that was not the answer I was expecting. “I apologize if I overstepped any boundaries.”

And it’s that almost dejected look that has me hastily responding with words. “No! No, I mean, it was, well, nice. I mean, a little weird, but only because I’m not used to it. I’m just not a heavy sleeper, so it kinda freaked me out a bit when I woke up and you were there. I didn’t even know you had come in. But it’s cool. I mean I like to cuddle and I am kind of a little fluff ball when I go all foxy. And you can stop my rambling any time now, or I will just keep going, and going, and going-“

“-Stiles, breathe.” I stop and suck in a lungful of air and am unable to stop the blush that is starting to spread on my cheeks. He doesn’t say anything else, and I get the feeling that nothing more needs to be said. If I want to cuddle some more, I think he would be willing to oblige. It makes my stomach go a bit queasy at the thought, but not in a bad way. 

The rest of the morning goes quietly and it’s about lunch time when I get a text from Scott. ‘Dude Jackson knows!’

And what! So I call him. “What do you mean he knows?”

“I mean that he cornered me on the field today and told me how he knows what I am and that if I don’t get him the bite, then he is going to expose me to the Hunters and everyone.”

“Shit.” I look over at Derek and he has a look that is mixed between worry and anger. “Okay, well we need to talk to him I guess. Convince him that he doesn’t want this from Peter and tell him to keep his nose to the ground.”

“I tried that, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Yeah, well he’ll listen to me.”

“Stiles, no offense, but he kind of hates you more than he hates me. What makes you think he will listen to you?”

I can feel my eyes shift to the green I know they are. “Because, Scotty, I won’t be asking. Tell him to come to the abandoned warehouse in the old ironworks in an hour.” I hang up and get up to go and change when a hand comes down on my shoulder. 

“Stiles, what are you going to do? Are you going to kill him?”

“No, I’m not a killer. But he’s going to learn to never cross a fox. If he doesn’t keep what he knows to himself I am not above scaring the shit out of him.” Derek nods and goes to his room. Probably to get dressed and come with us. Typical, but not unwanted. Derek looks pretty intimidating. Well at least when he’s not stroking fingers through my orange fur. I can’t help but laugh at the thought, and then get all confused with this giggly feeling that overtakes me. So many things to deal with, I can’t even right now.

…

Derek and I get there about twenty minutes early, but it is enough time for us to scope things out a bit before Scott and Jackson get here. Usually I would be busy playing on my phone, but now all I can do to keep myself calm is to swirl some balls of fox fire around in the air and try to meditate a bit. Derek is watching the balls of light closely, but I think it’s mostly because of what he’s seen I can do with it. 

When they get there, Scott reeks of fear and Jackson is smug as ever. At least until he sees me and Derek standing next to each other in the middle of the somewhat crowded warehouse. “What is Stilinski doing here? I thought I was going to meet this Alpha, not some scrawny flee bag.” Derek growls and I laugh.

“You know, you think you’re all that because mommy and daddy buy you nice things and that you are Mr. Popularity, but strip those things away and you are just a scared little boy.” I let the fox fire whirl down from the ceiling where I moved them and let them dance around my hand. “Now I on the other hand, once you get rid of the geeky spaz façade that I have put on all these years, well,” I let my eyes glow green, “you get a whole different picture.”

Jackson’s heart stutters a bit and backs away into Scott’s shoulder before moving behind him. “W-what are you?”

“I’m something you really don’t want to mess with. Just like the Alpha. He is bad news and if you ask him for the bite, he is more likely to kill you than to turn you. I don’t know everything that Scott said to you, but this is not a life that you should walk into on a whim. You probably only want to be turned for selfish reasons, and that never ends well. So this is me giving you an option. Keep your mouth shut, or these little balls of light will do more than dance around in the air.” 

Before Jackson can say anything in return there is gunfire and bullets flying everywhere. I speed over to Jackson and knock him to the ground before he can get hit, and Scott is right there with me. I yell for him to get Jackson out of there. He hesitates for a split second, but then does go. Derek is right beside me and I push him to follow but he doesn’t budge. “Derek, Scott is going to need you. I am faster and I can distract them better than you. You have to help him. Please.” 

“No, Stiles. I’m not going, not without you.”

“Damnit, Derek. GO!” He pauses like Scott, but also moves out to follow the other two out. Now it’s all me. The fox fire I had is dancing a crazy rhythm, and I make a few more to surround me completely. Then I open the door and start to run, but I am struck across the back of my head and the world goes black.

…

When I wake up I am chained to a metal grate and my hands are covered in iron sleeves while the rest of me is wrapped in what appears to be an iron link chain all around my body, but the chain feels lighter than it should, and it smells of oils and herbs. Must have gotten a witch or something to enchant this so I would be unable to transform, but it is keeping my eyes perpetually green. My shirt is missing and there is dried blood on my chest and I can feel a bit on the back of my neck. Overall I seem to be fine. No injuries still healing anyway, but I don’t know where I’m at or how long I’ve been here. The pounding in my head is dulling my other senses and at first I think it must have been the blow I took, but if the rest of my wounds have healed, then that should have too. 

“My, my, what a catch.” I lift my head and there is Kate, standing in front of a sliding metal door. “You might be wondering why your senses are a dulled a bit, little fox, and the answer to that is a small dosage of mistletoe straight into your bloodstream.” She is smiling like the cat that caught the canary, and in this case, I guess she did.

“You know you won’t get away with this. My dad’s the Sherriff and I have some friends in high places.”

“Oh, I’m counting on that. You don’t think I let you live because I wanted to set you free did you? No, you’re only bait for the bigger catch.”

“You want the Alpha? What makes you think he’ll come for me? I’m just a fox.”

Her smile widens, “No, not just a fox. But you have those wolves close to home, and they will come for you, and the Alpha will come for them. You see how this works.” I really don’t have anything more to say to this bitch so I stop talking. She just keeps smirking at me until she gets a message on her phone. “Oh, my guest is here.” She leaves me and closes the door behind her. 

Once she is out of the room I start to struggle with my restraints and attempt to break free, but I know that it is useless. There’s no way I’m getting out of here on my own. Wherever here is. Then I hear the footsteps coming back and I strain my now limited hearing to try and figure out what’s going on. Then I hear a heartbeat that I have become all too familiar with. Allison. Shit. “What is this place?”

They are just outside the door now, I guess Allison didn’t know, but she is about to find out. “Let’s start with the basics. You know how every family has its secrets? Ours are a little different.” Kate pulls the door open. The room is darker than what a human could see in so Kate walks in to the construction light with Allison trailing behind her. Allison looks tentative, obviously seeing the humanoid outline in the small amount of moonlight that is filtering in from a window behind me. Then Kate turns on the light and Allison is gaping at me. “Isn’t he just adorable?”

She doesn’t say anything in response, but she knows who I am. I know that Scott has talked about me to her, she knows that I am one of his friends. Kate walks around from behind the light and over to a box that is hooked up to some wired attached to the chains that are surrounding me. Without my hands free the electricity that she starts humming is free to run through my body as I am unable to absorb it. “What are you doing to him? Is that gonna kill him?”

“Oh, come on, kiddo. Don’t get all ethical on me now.”

She stops the electricity but then turns it back on just enough to keep me from crying out, but also from saying anything as my body tries to handle the damage that is being caused. “What is he?”

“Well this one is a Kitsune, a fox-spirit.” She laughs. “To me he’s just another dumb animal. Now the main problem this town has is werewolves. They are the truly dangerous ones.” All I can think is that she hasn’t seen anything yet. I am far more dangerous than any wolf. 

“Is this a joke to you?” Allison looks a little incredulous. But she also isn’t trying to get me down from here or stop her psycho Aunt from torturing me anymore. 

“Sweetheart, there are supernatural creatures running around in the world. Everything’s a joke to me. How else do you think I stay sane?” You call this sane, lady? I would hate to see your crazy.

“So is he the one that’s behind all the animal attacks?” She actually sounds afraid, and I mean, yeah, I guess if I just found out about this part of life then I might be a bit scared too. 

“No. That would be the werewolves. He is just running with them, protecting them. So far as we know there are at least two, possibly three. The two lesser ones are called Betas, and then there’s the one in charge. He’s called an Alpha, the pack leader, bigger, stronger, nastier. Those, are the real ugly mother fuckers.” 

Kate turns the light and the voltage off before they leave the room and close the door behind them. But they stay within earshot for me to know what is being said. “When were they going to tell me?”

“They still haven’t decided if they’re gonna tell you.”

“Why?’

“Well, let’s just say if you react badly when you find out… Not good.”

“What do you mean, ‘Not good’?”

“They don’t think that you can handle it. They look at you and they see this frightened little girl who’s gonna run crying in the corner when she finds out the truth. Me? What do I see? Natural talent. Allison, you said that you wanted to know what was going on, and to feel less out of control right? Now’s your chance.” I start to lose it after that. But I do hear her saying that she needs to go back to school and to the dance that was going on in the next few days, and that she is going to help her aunt catch the Betas. They leave and don’t come back so I sag a bit in the chains and settle myself in for a long few days. Possibly my last.

…

I wake the next day with my stomach growling and my throat dry. Just because I’m supernatural, doesn’t stop me from having essential needs. But what really wakes me up is the sound of footsteps and the metal sliding door opening. “Morning sunshine. How’s our little fox today?”

“Why don’t you let me go, and I’ll show you just how happy I am to see you?”

“Awe, feisty, just the way I like them.” She walks over to the table that has all of my stuff on it and the box that is hooked up to the electrical wire. She starts going through my wallet. “How do you even pronounce that?” She’s looking at my driver’s license. “You poor bastard.” She puts it down after laughing some more and then turns to me with a half serious face. “Now, why don’t you just tell me who the Alpha is? It would save you a lot of pain, and I might even be willing to give you a head start.”

“Why would I tell you if you’re just going to kill me anyway?”

“Well, I can make it quick, or I can drag it out for days, weeks even. So you either not telling me because you want to kill him yourself or you’re trying to protect him.”

“Neither, I don’t like the bastard, but I’m also not going to give you the satisfaction of the kill. And I do know how much you love killing, Kate. So does my dad. And now the fact that you’ve kidnapped me and are threatening my life, well, we have enough to put you behind bars for the rest of yours. That is, however much longer that might me.”

Her smile falters a bit there. “What is that supposed to mean.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t say that you haven’t been paying attention to who is being killed can you? I think if you went over the names again you might see a few familiar ones. Now, are you going to stand there and talk me to death, or are you going to torture me?”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t want to torture you. I wanna get to know you better. I mean, you and Derek seem thick as thieves now-a-days. I want to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe reminisce about the good old days.”

“You mean how you burnt the Hales alive?”

“Well, I was thinking more about the hott crazy sex Derek and I used to have.” For some reason that gets my blood boiling and my hands itching with want to release some fire on this bitch. “But the fire thing, yeah, that was fun too.” Really now more than ever in retribution. If Peter doesn’t kill this bitch then I am going to make sure she rots for the rest of her life and I will never let her forget who put her in that jail cell. “You know, I love how much you hate me. You don’t even really know me.”

“I know what you did, that’s enough to hate any psycho like you.”

“Oh, but the fun Derek and I used to have together.” There is a small glint in her eye. “It went something like this.” She licks a broad strip up my abdomen and pulls away with a devilish grin on her face and my thrashing to try and get her off of me. I am going to need a really long really hot shower after this, and it has nothing to do with the sweat at grim that has collected on me. “Mmm, sweetheart, I really don’t want to torture you.” She turns her back to me to face the door where a man is standing now. “But he does.” 

She leaves and this guy pulls out some brass knuckles, and who really uses brass knuckles anymore, I mean come on, and then proceeds to wail on me until I am fading in and out of consciousness again. I don’t know how much of this I can take. I mean I heal pretty fast, but if they keep up alternating between the mistletoe, electroshock therapy, and beatings, I know I won’t make it too much longer. 

The next time I come to fully conscious and aware of my surroundings Kate is sitting at the table with her back to me and she is on her phone listening to some messages. “Hey, it’s me. I’m getting tired of leaving messages. I want to know where you are. Call me. Now.”

“Seems like your brother isn’t too happy with you. Gotta hate that family drama. But seeing as you really aren’t sticking to the damn code you all boast about, I guess that doesn’t really matter too much. I bet if he knew that you were holding a teenager captive he wouldn’t be too pleased.”

“You know for someone who talks an awful lot, you really don’t say much. If you’re not gonna talk, I’m just gonna have to kill you. So, say hi to your Laura for me.” She pauses her hand over the knob for the electricity. “Do you think he told her about me? Told her what he did?” I don’t respond or look at her. I can’t stand to look at her. “No, I suppose he didn’t. Do you think he told anyone, besides you that is? I mean it is a lot of guilt to keep buried, but he does seem the type. Really though, it isn’t his fault he got tricked by a pretty face. It happens.” She laughs. “Handsome young werewolf mistakenly falls in love with a super-hot girl. Who comes from a family that kills werewolves. Is that ironic? Is it ironic that now you’re the one essentially helping me to track the pack you are working so hard to protect? The one I already destroyed. We’re just a little bit of history repeating itself.” 

Now she is about to go down a road that I don’t want her to. They don’t know that the second Beta is even a real thing. And they sure as hell don’t suspect Scott. “It’s really not all the ironic at all. I mean, you are just a psycho bitch who likes killing for the sake of killing. You don’t follow a code, instead you kill innocent people.”

“Innocent? You are calling yourself innocent? No, you are a monster. I just happen to be a monster hunter. I am just purging the earth of the filth like you.”

“Yeah, why don’t you tell me how that has worked out in history? The Crusades, Hitler, British vs. the natives, American Internment camps? How did all of that end? Sure many people died, but eventually the good guys won, and everyone was left in peace. At least until the next big bad came along. You are just one in a long line, and your time to fall is coming soon. Of that I promise you.”

“Oh, you think you’re little tirade was enough to stop me from putting two and two together and getting four?”

“Well with the level of stupid you somehow manage to maintain, yeah, I thought it might be.”

“Well, now that I know you’re little buddy Scott is the Beta, I can go to that dance and make sure that kid, with those adorable brown eyes, will get exactly what he deserves.” I start thrashing some more after she leaves. I need to get out of here so I can warn Scott, but the chains are just as tight and just and solid as they were before. I can’t do anything. Then there is someone coming. At first I think it might be the guy who was torturing me, but when the door opens, I am surprised to see Allison there.

“Stiles, I don’t have much time, but I have to ask you something.” 

“Something your Aunt can’t answer?” So I might let a bit of my frustration and anger out on her. It’s not like its misplaced or anything. Not really.

She looks guiltily at the floor. “I don’t know that I can trust her.”

“But you can trust me?” I can’t help the malice that goes along with the words. 

“I think so. Scott trusts you, and I trust Scott.” She falls quiet for a moment and then looks me in the eyes. “He’s a werewolf, isn’t he? One of the Betas.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, you are helping to protect Derek and if you’re protecting him, then you would probably do the same for another werewolf. And Scott is your best friend. Your brother. You wouldn’t sell him out.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“So I’m right?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Stiles, I need to know.”

“How can I trust you? You’ve known that I am here this whole time, but you haven’t told Scott, Derek, or hell even my Dad. I’m still being held here against my will, and you aren’t doing anything to help me. Yet you want my help. I don’t see this as a win-win situation.”

She looks a bit ashamed at that, and steps forward. At first I thought she would turn on the electricity again, but she starts to pick the lock of one of my hand prisons with a bobby pin from her hair. “I don’t think you’re dangerous, Stiles. If Scott is a werewolf, I don’t think he is either. My family has been lying to me from day one, and I know that. I started snooping around and found the Code that my family is supposed to follow. I know that we aren’t supposed to hunt kids, at least not without irrefutable proof that they have done something to hurt someone else. I also know that you haven’t done that. I see that you sit with Erica, Isaac, and Boyd at lunch. And now I know why you won’t sit with Scott and I. It’s because of my family. You didn’t’ want to be associated with a Hunter and I can’t blame you, but Stiles, I’m not a Hunter. I’m just a girl who wants to protect her boyfriend and his family. That means you.”

She gets the lock opened and my hand free, but before I can say anything, I hear another set of footsteps. “Allison, give me the bobby pin and get out of here. Someone is coming and you can’t be caught helping me. You need to go and warn Scott. Tell him where I am and make sure that he gets Derek and my dad to come too. Go!” I take the bobby pin and put it in my mouth and slip my hand back into the cage it was in so it looks like I am still bound. Allison slips out and goes in the opposite direction of the approaching footsteps so I know that she will make it out okay. Hopefully she will get the message to Scott and they make it here before anything terrible happens. 

As soon as the guy who beat the shit out of me earlier comes into the room I know that I am getting the hell out of here, with or without the others. “Back for more play time? I guess once with me just wasn’t enough.” He flips on the light and gives me a grin. His balding head and grey beard are not doing anything to hide the fact that this man is old. I mean, not old, old, but still old.

“To be honest, my knuckles are kind of hurting. So I brought some help.” He holds up a bat. “But I need to warn you, I used to play in college.”

He swings and I pull my hand out with a ball of fix fire in to grab at the bat and burn it to ash. “When was that, like the stone age?” He lunges and I have just enough time to let off a ball of electric light to hit him square in the chest. The shock rattles through him and he falls to the floor unconscious. Then I get to work on unlocking the chain that has me tied up and the cage my other hand is in. Just as I am about half done, I hear a howl go up. That sounds like Derek, and he doesn’t sound too happy. So I guess the cavalry is on his way.

I finish up getting myself free and fall to the floor. All the stress my body has been through is enough to make me want to sleep for a month, but there’s this itch under my skin that is telling me that this isn’t over. More like this is the beginning of the end. Mom always said to trust my instincts, and I am not going to ignore them now. 

It’s pretty easy to find my way out of the tunnels, but that puts me outside in the woods outside the old Hale house? What? Seriously, this is where I’ve been the whole time? Okay, well that is not going to give me a good vantage point for whatever is going to go down here. So I go back through the tunnels and make my way up the staircase to the house and then up to the second story to sit on the roof in the shadows. Derek and Scott appear and are being chased by Kate and Allison, but it looks like Allison is trying to stop her aunt from hurting the wolves, not joining in with her. 

Kate shoots Derek, and I almost launch myself off the roof in retaliation, but then I hear another set of footprints and the sound of a gun. So… Chris Argent? Then another that enters the house. Peter. I slink against the wall and just hope that there is so much going on out here that he decides to ignore my presence. 

Chris stops Kate just as she is about to shoot Scoot. “Kate! I know what you did. Put the gun down.”

“I did what I was told to do.” That’s the truth. She wasn’t the mastermind behind the fire? Who then?

“No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house, ones who were human. Look what you’re doing now. You’re holding a gun to a sixteen year old boy with no proof that he spilled human blood. We go by the Code.” She gives him a sardonic look, and he says the code in French. It translates to ‘We hunt those who hunt us.’ Chris pulls his gun up to aim at her when she refuses to lower hers. “Put the gun down…” he fires off into the tree behind her, “before I put you down.

She lowers her weapon but that is when Peter decides to make an entrance, and they are all on alert again. Derek has managed to crawl behind a tree and starts to recover from the bullet Kate put in him. Peter ends up knocking all of them on their asses, and then pulls Kate into the house and start talking to her. As soon as that happens, I start throwing up as many balls of fire as I can handle at one time and let them hover all over the clearing in front of the house. I will be able to hit Peter no matter where he is. I just need an opening. 

Derek gasps and I look down to see him staring up at me. I nod to him and he nods back. Allison follows them in and I can hear what is being said, but I have to block it out. Especially when Peter rips out Kate’s throat. But Derek and Scott are there to try and tackle Peter so that Allison can get out. She runs to her Father and then sees me standing on the roof. “Move. Out of the way. Now!” 

The fighting in the house continues and then I hear the sound of Peter making the final shift and throwing Scott out the window. When Peter jumps outside he is in the twisted visage of a wolf. A true monster. He gets a handle on Scott and I don’t know where Derek is, but as soon as Scott kicks himself away I hurl everything I have waiting at him. Normally once the fox fire hits its target, it dissipates or is absorbed or something, but this time, I hold it and let it completely cover Peter’s body. It is a cruel way to die, and I feel really bad for it, but my electric fire doesn’t seem to do much more than stun him, and I can’t let Derek be the one to kill his only remaining family. That would be too painful for him. I don’t know that I can live with the knowledge that I have taken a life, but to protect my friends, I would do just about anything. I keep the fire going and let it singe every part of him before letting it go out. 

After I release it, I feel light headed and I start to sway. I know I am falling but I can’t catch myself. Luckily I don’t have to. “Hey, Derek. Sorry to just drop in like that.” I can barely keep my eyes open, but I can feel him pulling me up against his chest and keeping me there. 

“It’s over now.” But I can still hear Peter’s heartbeat. 

“No, it’s not.” I mumble into his shoulder. I turn my head just enough to see Argent approaching Peter to check if he’s dead. Peter starts to say something and Argent looks back to Derek with a questioning glance. Derek just nods and then turns to walk out of the clearing with me in his arms. The sound of three shots being fired is the last thing I hear before I look up into Derek’s eyes and watch them turn from blue to red before I pass out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dub-con scene when Kate licks Stiles
> 
> So yeah, I did a thing. I'm not even really sure what to say here, so I will just let it be.
> 
> Tell me what you think! Love to hear feedback from you guys. Also this isn't then end, but from here on out, things will not be running parallel to the show. Major changes ahead!


	5. Waking Up and Exposing Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major feels in this chapter! It is kinda short, but I feel like it is good and I didn't want to add anything on to the end of it. 
> 
> Plus I am a bit late in writing and posting this. So enjoy!

“Is he going to be okay? It’s been two days and he still hasn’t woken up yet?”

“His heart is beating steadily, I think his body is just trying to repair itself. I don’t know what she did to him while she had him. Foxes don’t heal quite as quickly as wolves and he expended a lot of energy to take out the Alpha.” There is a tone of bitterness, but it is directed at the now deceased, not me.

“Okay, okay.” Fingers thread through my hair for a moment before footsteps leave the room. I can’t open my eyes yet, or move my body, but just hearing Dad’s and Derek’s voices is enough to know that I am safe and that everything will be alright. 

There are fingers in my hair again. “Wake up soon.” It is gentle enough that the sensation of the touch lulls me back to sleep.

…

The next time I wake up, I can hear soft breathing from the corner and the sound of crickets outside. There is no light hitting my eyes so it must be night. The heartbeat in the room is familiar, one I have gotten to know quite well over the last two months. Two months. That’s it. It’s only been two months since Scott was bitten and Derek Hale appeared in our lives. A crazy two months. 

Slowly I let my eyes crack open and take in my surroundings. It’s my room and Derek is slumped down on the chair in the corner with his feet up on my bed. He looks so much younger and peaceful asleep. Relaxed. But at the same time he is tensed, as if waiting to bolt from the room at a moment’s notice. 

I let my other senses open up to take in the rest of the house and hear dad’s snores coming from his room. Otherwise the rest of the house is quiet. Scott must be home. I wonder what happened after I passed out. I thought I saw Derek’s eyes change from Beta blue to Alpha red, but that could have been my mind playing tricks on me. It would make sense though. If Peter is dead, then the power would pass on to the next Hale. Right? Then I start thinking about what happened. Being trapped in the basement of the old Hale house and Kate torturing me there, Kate shooting Derek, Peter killing Kate, and then me shooting all that fox fire at Peter. I’ve never tried to control more than four or five balls at a time. I don’t even know how many I had lit up that night.   
Before I know it, my breathing is getting shallower and I can feel the beginnings of a panic attack coming. I haven’t had one since mom died. I try to focus in on Dad’s heartbeat like I usually do, but it isn’t working. Then there is a hand on my chest and red eyes lighting up the darkness. I can feel my own burn green in response. “Breathe, Stiles. You have to breathe. You are okay, you’re safe, no one got hurt.”

I give a nervous giggle at that. Because no, people got hurt. They were the bad guys yes, but people still got hurt and I am partially one to blame for that. I hurt people. Me. Mom was a protector of Beacon Hills and I am just a killer.

A low growl comes out of Derek’s chest. So low that I can feel it as it ripples the air between us. “Stiles!” And for some reason that does the trick. My breathing evens out and my heart matches his. “That’s it.” He keeps breathing and eventually I can feel the exhaustion fall back over me in the aftermath of the attack. “You gonna be okay?”

I nod, and then shake my head. No, I am not okay. Derek seems to sense that though and crawls up into the bed with me wrapping me in a strong embrace. Not wanting to fight the comfort I am so desperate for, I let my nose fall into his neck and take in his scent, all the while focusing in on his heartbeat. He keeps talking, but it is white noise as I let the exhaustion take me back under. 

…

The third time I wake up I decide that this was the last. I was going to stay up and not fall back asleep no matter how much my body wanted to. Derek was downstairs with my dad talking and I did my best to ignore what it was about. Sadly, my hearing is just a bit too good and I know that they were discussing my night time panic attack. So instead of getting out of bed I just roll over and bury myself in the covers. I’m still not sure what time it is, but by the light is seems to be verging into late afternoon. 

Things are quiet for the most part. Then there is a knock on the door. Derek is the one who answers it. “I told you that Stiles is still recovering from his kidnapping and needs to rest.” So that’s the story they are going with. Lies mixed in with just the right amount of truth. I approve.

“Look here, Sexy McGrufferson,” Erica. I let out a sigh while trying not to laugh. Only she would talk to Derek like that. “I let you turn me away the last three times, but this time, not happening. All I want to do is see him with my own two eyes. If he’s asleep, I promise not to wake him up.” Her voice changes from anger to almost desperation. “He’s my friend, and I just want to make sure he’s okay.” 

I can tell that Derek is about to tell her off again, but I would really like to see her. “Derek, let her up.” I know he’ll hear me, and the growl that comes out only confirms it. 

“Keep your voice down and don’t stress him out. He still needs to rest.” 

She lets out a sigh. “Finally! Come on Isaac.” Now that I let my hearing fully expand I can hear three extra hearts. Erica, Isaac and Boyd. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I have tears threatening to fall from my eyes and I have to quickly wipe them away before my friends get to my room. 

It doesn’t take long before there is a knock on my door and Derek is entering with the three misfits behind him. Boyd stays at the door leaning on the frame while Isaac and Erica come further into the room. Isaac stops at the foot of my bed, but Erica doesn’t hesitate to crawl up into the bed with me and lay her head on my chest, pulling me into a tight hug. “You got some explaining to do Beast Boy.”

Derek growls at the blonde’s actions, and that only makes me want to laugh. “Oh, shut up and sit down, Sourwolf, she’s fine.” I wrap my arms back around her and hug her back. 

“Your bodyguard has been stonewalling me for the past three days.”

“He isn’t my bodyguard.”

“Could have fooled me, what with the angry eyebrows and a scowl to match. Where did you find this guy?”

“That’s Derek. He’s been staying here for a while. Derek, this is Erica, Isaac, and Boyd.” I gesture to each respectively. “They are my friends from school.”

Erica sits up and looks down at me. “Yeah, school, you know that place you haven’t been to all week cause you had to go and get your ass kidnapped. A story I completely don’t believe by the way.”

I roll my eyes and give a small laugh. “Of course not.”

“Well, you did promise to tell me about what was going on when shit was done. And now that you are back and Scott doesn’t seem to be on edge anymore, pretty much tells me that the danger has passed, am I right?” I nod. “Okay then, spill you’re guts.”

So I do. Derek seems uncomfortable for the most part, but doesn’t say anything or interrupt. He just stands in the corner of the room glowering at all of us. “And that’s about it.”

“No, it’s not, I mean it explains that you’re a fox spirit thing, which is all kinds of awesome by the way, but that tells me nothing of what actually happened.”

“Well, there are these people, Hunters, they go after other supes like me and contain them, make sure they aren’t a threat to the general populace, or… get rid of the ones that are. There is a family of them here in the Hills right now-“

“-Allison’s family.” Erica interrupts.

“Uh, yeah, how did you-“

“Her father is an arms dealer. They are probably packing enough fire power to weaponize a small army.”

There really isn’t much I can say to that. “Yeah, they do.”

“That’s why you don’t like Allison. You recognized her name or something, and knew what her family was.” She is too smart sometimes.

“Her last name.” Isaac pretty much whispers it. As I was talking He took a seat on the floor near the head of the bed. Close enough that I can reach out and touch his head. Slowly I do. He doesn’t flinch and I am proud of him for that. 

“Yeah. Argent.”

“It means silver in French. Like werewolves are hurt by silver?”

“Got it in one.” I touch my finger to my nose. “But she actually helped me. It was her crazy aunt that captured me. She was trying to use me as bait for the guy that killed all those people.”

Derek takes a few steps forward. “She helped you?” 

I nod. “She unlocked one of the cuffs I was chained up in, and then got word to you and Scott so you’d know where to find me. It’s thanks to her I’m alive. I don’t know if we can completely trust her yet, but, she is going against her family, so that is pretty major.” He gives a sharp jut of his chin in acknowledgement and then moves back to the corner with his usual grumpy face. That is a lot to take in and think about. The last time he trusted a Hunter, she killed his family. 

“Okay, so I get how you’re involved now, but how about Angry Eyes over there? How does he know what you are?”

It takes me a minute to stifle the laughter that is bubbling up in me from her name and Derek’s low growl at it. “That isn’t for me to say. I told you, I was going to tell you what was mine to tell. That isn’t my secret to share.” I am talking to Erica, but I am look at Derek. His eyes go wide for a second before he schools his face into its normal grimace once again. 

Erica looks over to him with questioning eyes and he huffs out a breath. Then his eyes glow red and they narrow to slits. I was right. He’s an Alpha now. “I’m what goes bump in the night.” 

“Okay, so you’re the boogeyman. Impressive.” She rolls her eyes with the last word and looks at me totally unimpressed. 

Low growl again. “Try again.”

“He’s a werewolf.” Boyd speaks for the first time since they got here. 

“Right. An Alpha at that. Gotta say, I think I’m going to miss those blue eyes though.” Derek’s gaze meets mine for a moment before it drops to the floor. “The Argents are mainly werewolf hunters, but they don’t discriminate species. They usually follow a code, but there are a few who don’t. Kate was one of them. She just wanted to kill us all, simply for existing.”

“Right, there was a big blow up a few days ago about her body being found in the woods and how she was connected to the Hale fire.” Erica seems to think on that for a moment, then turns to Derek. “Hale. You’re Derek Hale, aren’t you?” Derek flinches at that. “I used to be friends with Cora.” Erica seems to realize what she is talking about then and quickly shuts up. “Sorry.”

Derek just grunts and sinks into the corner a bit more. “Okay, how about we all quit talking about the supernatural, and move on to better topics. Like what has been happening at school the last few days. How long was I missing for anyway?”

“I haven’t seen you in a week. You got taken a few days before the dance. Everyone was pretty worried about you, but no one knew where you were. Then there was a story circulating that you were kidnapped and when I found out that you were home from Scott, I started coming over. He wouldn’t let me in until today.”

“Wow, okay, so a week. Uh, has Scott been around? Where is he?” That is the moment when I hear his heartbeat coming up the sidewalk on his bike. “Never mind. Erica, you might want to scoot over to the other side of the bed, I’m about to be the middle of a Stilinski sandwich in three, two, one-“ The door opens and Scott comes flying at me. Erica is being grabbed in a hug behind me and he is going on and on about how good it is to see me awake. I hug him back just as fiercely and then tell him to ease up on the human. 

He backs away at that. “They know?”

“Uh, yeah, just got done telling them what I am.”

“Oh, my, God! You’re a werewolf too! That makes so much sense. It happened right after winter break, didn’t it? I knew you didn’t just get that good at lacrosse out of nowhere!” Erica starts screaming and hits Scott a few times. 

“Erica, you should probably calm down a bit.” She looks at me and then seems to settle a little. I just don’t want her to get worked up into a seizure here in my bedroom. 

“Uh, yeah, I am.” Scott looks bashful, almost afraid of what Erica will think of him. Which is funny, because the last time I knew, they didn’t know each other at all.

“Don’t worry wolf boy, it doesn’t change the way I think about you.” Erica says rolling her eyes for probably the millionth time since she’s been here.

“Did I miss something? Since when do you two talk?”

“The first day after you didn’t’ show up for school, I asked Scott where you were. He didn’t answer. I may or may not have hit him a few times until he confessed that he didn’t know. The next day, him and his girlfriend sat with us at the Island of Misfit Toys, and every day after that. When you were found after the dance, I didn’t even have to threaten him for the information. He just conveniently omitted that fact that your body guard was here.”

“For the second time, he’s not my body guard.”

“Uh, dude, he kinda is.” Scott looks sheepish admitting his thoughts but keeps going anyway. “When he carried you away from the house he wouldn’t let anyone touch you except your dad. The first day he wouldn’t even let me in your room.”

I look over at Derek with a ‘really’ look. He shrugs his shoulders but doesn’t look ashamed. “You needed to recover and you couldn’t do that with a wound up ball of tension that you claim is your best friend sitting next to your bedside smelling like guilt and sadness.”

“You can smell emotions?” Isaac asks timidly.

“Yeah, it’s a thing. Just like I can hear your heartbeat.” I don’t argue with Derek, mostly because I know he was right, but at the same time, that means that he has been keeping watch over me almost twenty-four/seven. I am both creeped out and weirdly touched at the gesture. Pushing that to the back burner for now, “Okay, we need to not think about all this supernatural bullshit right now. I vote for a movie and pizza night. We were planning one of those weren’t we?”

Scott nods and moves off the bed to pull out his phone. “I got the pizza, well, I don’t have the money, but I can order it. The usual, times like four?”

“Yeah, and one with all veggies and light sauce for my dad. I’m sure I have money around her somewhere.” Derek hands a credit card at Scott. 

“Dude, you sure?” He simply nods and then moves back to his corner. “Okay, I’m not gonna complain with free pizza.”

I look at the other three. “Why don’t you guys go downstairs and pick out a few movies. I just wanna take a quick shower cause I stink and then I will meet you down there.” Boyd waits for Erica and Isaac is the last one out with a somewhat worried look on his face. Probably thinking about how to ask his dad if he can stay. Scott follows after them placing our order while Derek stands at the door as if waiting for me. Before he can leave, I have to say something, probably really embarrassing. “Thanks, by the way.”

He looks back over his shoulder. “For what?”

“For being there when we needed you.”

There is silence for a minute before he turns away from me and quietly replies. “That’s what you do for pack.” Derek is down the stairs before I can respond. The air is almost sucked out of my lungs while a warm feeling curls up inside my chest. I have a feeling that Derek isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. 

Once I am showered and changed into some sweatpants and one of my dad’s hoodies that says ‘Sherriff’s Department’ on it, I am downstairs and handed a slice of pizza as a movie plays in the background. Somehow I ended up wedged between Erica and Scott with Isaac sitting at our feet on the floor. Boyd is sitting in front of Erica and Derek is sitting in dad’s armchair. It feels so right that I almost forget that anything bad happened. 

That is until Isaac’s phone goes off. He pulls it out and I see that it’s his dad calling. Shit. Isaac must have forgotten. Before Isaac can do anything I take the phone out of his hand and answer it. Isaac’s eyes go wide as saucers and starts shaking his head no, but it’s too late. “Hello, Mr. Lahey.”

“Who is this?” He sounds kind of pissed off.

“This is Stiles. I’m a friend of Isaac’s from school. He was just helping me with some of my homework since I have been gone all week. Being kidnapped really bites into your academic study time, ya know?” Isaac is almost trembling when I lay a hand on his shoulder and squeeze gently to calm him down. “We must have forgotten the time while working, he’s in the bathroom right now.”

I know that by playing the kidnapped and homework cards that Isaac should be given some leniency, but if this guy is as crazy as I think he is, then even that might not help. “Okay, just tell him to come home as soon as he gets out of the bathroom.”

“Well, now that I have you on the phone, I was wondering if he could just spend the night? I mean that way we can keep studying. I can take him to school in the morning, and I’m sure my dad won’t mind. He should be home soon if you want me to ask him?”

A normal human might not be able to hear the silent swearing going on, on the other side of the line, but mine is just good enough to make it out. “I would really like him home tonight.”

“Okay, I just could really use his help in chemistry. It’s my weakest subject and I know that it’s Isaac’s best. How he manages an A while I am stuck with a B minus, I will never know. Must get his smarts from you.” The words taste like poison on my tongue, but I am a pro at buttering up parents to get what I want. “The Sherriff is always on my case about keeping my grades up, and I don’t even have a job like Isaac does. Pretty sure his GPA is higher than mine.” Also a casual mention of the position my father holds will be a not so gentle nudge in the right direction.

Isaac still looks fearful, but there is also a slight blush about his cheeks. Boyd puts a hand on his other shoulder and draws his attention away from me with a quiet smile. “I-I suppose. You sure it isn’t going to cause trouble with the Sherriff?”

“Nope. Thanks a ton, Mr. Lahey, I really appreciate it. Isaac just got out of the bathroom, did you want to talk to him?”

Isaac’s gaze goes back to me, but I keep smiling at him. “No. Just remind him that he has a shift tomorrow night.” The tightness never left Mr. Lahey’s voice, but that seems like a final judgment of sorts. 

“Will do. Thanks again.” I hand up and hand the phone back to Isaac. “Would you help me take the empty pizza boxes to the kitchen?” My gaze stays focused on Isaac and I keep my voice light. He nods and we gather up the trash and head out. Quietly so Scott and Derek will hear, but the others won’t, I whisper, “Please don’t listen in. I need him to trust me.”

Getting a low growl from Derek and a Whine from Scott, tell me that neither one is happy about being left out of this conversation, but also acknowledge that they will not eavesdrop. 

We get the cardboard to the recycle bin and the leftovers in the fridge before I jump up onto the counter and pat the empty space next to me. Isaac takes a moment before jumping up and then hunching over to fiddle with his fingers and the hole in his jeans. “You know, that if there is anything you need to talk to me about, you can, right? I mean, I know we haven’t been friends for more than a few months, but if there is something going on, you can trust me.”

Isaac opens his mouth a few times as if he is going to say something, but the words get stuck in his throat. I grab one of his hands and hold it in mine and he grasps it so tightly. We sit there like that for about ten minutes before he is able to say anything. “Sometimes when my dad gets angry he hits me. It could be a simple cuff on the back of my head or a jab at my ribs. But on the days it’s really bad, he locks me in an old chest freezer in the basement.” Now I am grabbing his hand back just as tightly and my breathing is hitched. I can hear growling coming from the living room, Derek obviously ignored my request. “Most of the time, I don’t even know what I did wrong. I keep my grades up, I’m on the lacrosse team, I work, I don’t know. I try to fix it, but I don’t know what I did. I should have called him tonight, I forgot. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

He starts shaking again, almost violent tremors wreck his body. I hop of the counter and, cautiously so as to not surprise him, wrap him in a hug and start stroking my hand up and down his back like my mom used to when I got hurt. I keep my voice calm and quiet even though I want to yell at him right now. “Listen to me, Isaac. You didn’t do anything wrong. None of this is your fault. None of it. You are a good son, a good friend, a good person. You do well in classes, you are great at lacrosse, and you do more than most kids our age do. There is nothing wrong with you. This is all on him. Okay? This is not your fault.” I pull away from him and look him in the eyes while holding onto his shoulders. “Now I need you to answer me truthfully. Do you feel safe in your house?”

The tears that I felt slide down his cheeks are continuous as I face him. He tries to talk but all he can do is shake his head no. Then he is full on sobbing, and I pull him back into a hug and let him get it out. I have tears falling from my own eyes and it takes all I have to stay here and not go after the asshole that made my friend feel like this. There are footsteps behind me and I can feel Derek standing a few feet away, but all my attention is focused on Isaac right now. 

“Okay, there are a few things that need to happen. First, when my dad gets home, we need to sit down and tell him what is going on, and you need to file an official complaint. That should be enough to get you removed from your dad’s house.”

Isaac shudders again, “Where will I go?”

“You will come to live here.”

“But you already have Derek here.”

“I’m getting my own place. You won’t be kicking me out.” I turn to look at Derek while keeping my arms around Isaac. 

Isaac lifts his arm to wipe away the snot and tears from his face, voice still unsure. “You sure?” 

Derek nods. “See, everyone is going to be okay. You are going to be okay. You just have to take the first step.” Isaac nods, and I pull him back into a hug. Talking with my dad will be tough, getting all the right paperwork in order will be harder, but now that there is something we can do to help Isaac, I know that dad will do everything in his power to help him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the way Erica talks to Derek, and the names she calls him. I don't know why, but she has this aversion to calling people by their name unless the situation is really serious. Derek is going to get a few more before she finds one that sticks. 
> 
> Also I feel bad about the Isaac feels, but in this vers, Mr. Lahey lives and it will be a legal battle that gets Isaac away from him. 
> 
> So I have soooooooo much planned for this story. There are a few elements that I am unsure of yet, but some pretty major plot points have been shoved into my head and I cannot wait for you guys to see what I have planned! Like seriously, bursting at the seems. Let me know what you think!


	6. Revelations and a Warning

After Isaac’s confession we all gathered on the couch again and when dad got home, the others sensed that it was time to leave. Isaac sat at the table with dad while Derek and I stood on opposite sides of the door leading to the dining room, listening in. 

When they are done, Dad sends Isaac up to take a shower before bed, then pulls me into a fierce hug. “He stays here.” I nod in agreement, and he turns to Derek. Before dad can say anything though, Derek is holding up a hand to interrupt him.

“Thank you for allowing me to stay here for so long, sir. I can get things lined up to get myself a place by the end of the week.”

“I’m sorry to have to kick you out like this, son.” The word gets Derek again, just like every other time my dad has said it to him. 

“Don’t be. He needs you.” He looks at me over my dad’s shoulder. “I’ve made my peace. I know that I have a place here again.” Then he looks at my dad again. “But it’s time for me to move on.”

Dad looks almost concerned. “You leaving Beacon Hills?” 

Shaking his head no, “I’m still needed here. Besides, this is home.” Before dad can respond he is back upstairs and in the guest bedroom. 

“Is he okay?” His eyebrow is raised in question, but there is a serious undertone there.

“Yeah,” My voice is thick at first and I have to clear my throat. “I think for the first time in a long time. But, uh, dad, you know that his uncle is dead now, right? That Derek is the new Alpha?”

“Does that mean the all this business is behind us? That we can finally relax?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, yeah the deaths will stop now, and you were able to find Kate’s body in the house, so she can be finally blamed for the fire. But I have this feeling that this is only the start. Mom once told me that Beacon Hills is just that, a beacon, the supernatural flock here. Something like this happening, is sure to keep them away for a little while, but…” Dad runs a hand over his face and sighs. I look down at my feet so as to avoid looking dad in the eyes as I say this next bit. “I can’t stand idly by anymore dad. If there is something threatening the town, or any of my friends, I am going to go after it. Just like mom did. I know that she didn’t do it often, but that is because there was a pack of werewolves living here. They took on most of it, but I’m part of the pack now. I’m going to help however I can.”

A hand falls on my shoulder and I finally look up to see sadness and pride in my father’s face. “I know, and I’ll be right there with you, kid. No secrets, no lies. If something’s happening, I want to know about it. Okay?” All I can do is nod and pull him back into a hug. “Your mother would be so proud of you son.”

We don’t say anything else. Dad goes to his office to start the paperwork for Mr. Lahey’s arrest, so I go upstairs to get Isaac some clothes to change into. Just in time too. He is coming out of the shower wrapped in a towel with another resting on his shoulders. “I-I don’t have anything to wear.”

I put a smile on my face and let the thoughts of Isaac’s safety bring me back to a happier place. “No worries. I was just about to get you some. Though, the pants will probably be a bit short. I’m not quite as tall as you.” The smile I get back is small, but there. 

After he goes back to the bathroom to change he comes back to my room. “Am I sleeping on the couch?”

“Nope. I thought we could share. If you’re okay with that. Scott and I do it all the time, so it’s no biggie to me. But if you’d prefer the couch…”

He thinks it over a bit. “I don’t mind sharing, I just-“

“Don’t worry. I still have nightmares sometimes. Come on.” I go over to the bed and let him choose a side. He goes closest to the door and after we are both under the covers, not touching, he finally starts to relax for the first time all night. 

“Thanks, Stiles.” It comes out a whisper.

I reach out a hand and tentatively grab his, “Nothing to thank me for, dude.” He grips it back and we both fall asleep.

…

I wish that I could say that things went easy from there out. But that would probably be the biggest lie I ever uttered. The fight with Isaac’s father took almost two months, but it finally was put to rest. Mr. Lahey got seven years in prison with possible early parole with good behavior. The house was put up for sale and Isaac was officially adopted by dad. I have a brother (legally) for the first time in my life. There was a big party and everything. Well big meaning all of our friends, Mrs. McCall, and dad. 

Derek moved out by the end of that first week just like he said he would. Right now he is living in a loft apartment on the outskirts of town. He had the old Hale house torn down and a memorial tree planted in the center of the clearing where the house once stood. Sometimes when we can’t find him, I go there and see him just sitting there, leaning against the tree, staring off into the distance. 

It’s on one of these occasions where I ask him something that has been bothering me for the last few weeks. Of course, I am smooth and ease myself into the conversation. “So, are you going to build yourself a pack?”

He rolls his eyes in the usual way, “What are you talking about, Stiles?”

I sit down in front of him stretching my legs and resting back on my hands. “Well, as the Alpha, you can bite a few more Betas, and according to the books I have, and the books you have lent me, they say that being a lone wolf is hard, that you need others to draw on for strength. That three is the best number. I know that you asked Scott, and I know that he still hasn’t given you an answer yet. Why, I don’t know, but he hasn’t. I will have to have a talk to him. But back to my original point, do you want to build yourself a pack?”

His eyebrows do this almost funny sort of dance on his head as he thinks through what I just said. The settle in the normal ‘frustration’ mode. “I don’t know.”

“I know you’ve thought about it. I have too.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and I think I know a few perfect candidates.” 

“Erica, Isaac, and Boyd?”

“Maybe.” The three of them have inserted themselves so fully into our lives that I can’t even think of how we managed to survive without them. If we aren’t all hanging out at my place, then we are at Derek’s loft. Derek is over at our place at least five nights out of the week, and Sundays have officially become pack dinner night. Even dad is there for that.

“Stiles-“

“Don’t ‘Stiles’ me. They are all good candidates for different reasons. Erica has epilepsy, if she got the bite then she wouldn’t have to worry about seizures anymore. Plus, she is just as fearsome as any wolf I’ve ever met. She would make a great second. Boyd could really use the feeling that pack can bring. I mean sure they are pack now, but as a wolf, you feel it differently. His family is really big and he kind of gets forgotten. Dad doesn’t say anything, but he usually spends about two or three nights a week at our place. He is strong already, and he brings a levelheadedness that you and I are both somewhat lacking and he needs a place to belong to. And Isaac… Isaac could use the confidence in himself. He is getting so much better, but there are still moments.” I look down at the ground. “Sometimes he still sneaks into my bed at night. I don’t care, you know I don’t mind cuddling. I just want him to be happy, and I think that with you, he can get something I can’t give him. Be a mentor to him.”

 

“You’re right. Boyd would do well as a wolf, so would Isaac and Erica, for all the reasons that you said. But this isn’t something that they should go into lightly. The bite can turn you, but it can also kill you.”

“I know, Erica and I have been talking about it. Don’t give me that face, she asked me almost right after she found out about us. She knows the risks and is willing to take them. I told her that you may not want that though. So she hasn’t said anything to you about it.”

“I just… I don’t want…”

“To be responsible for any more deaths. That is what you were going to say, isn’t it? But Derek, that’s the thing. You aren’t responsible for any deaths. None. I will keep telling you that until you believe it.”

He doesn’t look like he believes me, but he doesn’t fight me on it either. I’ll take that for progress. “You’re also right that she would make a good second, but I already have one.”

And what? “You do? I thought Scott-“

“-Not Scott.” There is a small smirk on his face now, but I am still way confused. 

“If not Scott, then who?”

“You, dumbass.”

I point at my chest. “Me? What? How can I be your second?”

“You have been there for me since I got back and the others all listen to you.” It feels like he stops himself from saying more. But me?

“I, I don’t know what to say.”

“That must be a first.” The snort that falls out of me can’t be helped. Derek has gotten looser the last two months. The grumpy face falls a bit when it’s just him and me. It’s getting there with Isaac, but I think that is more out of a big brother sense than anything else. “Don’t say anything, just yes.”

“Uh, yeah, yes. I mean, don’t be afraid to replace me if you want to later on when you have some actual wolves in the pack, but yeah, thanks.” He nods and I can’t think of anything else to say. Which is really something. I just feel that we need to shake this off. “How about we go for a run?” He nods again and stands. I follow and start to make my way to the edge of the clearing, but the noise of clothes falling to the ground has me turning back to face Derek, only to turn my back to him just as fast. “Uh, dude, don’t you want to wear your clothes as we run through the woods? I’m just sayin’.”

“Can’t if I want to do this.” There is a quiet popping and when I turn again, there is a black wolf with red eyes standing were Derek was two seconds ago. 

“Dude!” I move towards him and reach out a hand. He playfully jumps back and then lunges forward to trip me onto my back with him on top of me. My hands move through the silky fur around his neck and head. His nose goes to my neck scenting me and I return it. “This is so awesome! Now move so I can shift too.” I shimmy out of my clothes and make the change into my fox form and nip at Derek’s heels before taking off into the forest. 

Derek told me once that his mother was able to make the full shift and that Laura had just learned how to do it a few months before she was killed. He said that not all werewolves can do it, that it takes an incredible anchor and a focus like no other to complete. He said that he has never heard of a bitten wolf capable of the full shift, and that the true Alpha form is something like a wolf, just a fair bit larger. The fact that Derek has been working on how to make the shift to a wolf says a lot about his head space. Three months ago, this would not have been possible for him, but now, I mean I didn’t see it, but it sounded like a fluid transformation.

As we run I try to get lost in the thrill of the chase and the newfound playful behavior Derek is displaying, but all I can think about is Laura. How if I would have been paying closer attention, if I had started running patrols through the preserve and town, that she might be alive right now. That Derek wouldn’t have lost all of the blood family he has left in the world. How it all feels like my fault. 

Derek must notice my distracted behavior and when we reach a clearing deep in the forest he shifts back and beckons for me to do the same. “What’s wrong, I caught you far too many times, I thought we were running to stop thinking? What has you so distracted?”

My breathing starts coming out labored. “It’s my fault.”

“What’s your fault?” He steps closer to me and lays a hand on my shoulder. The weight of it is light, but it is heavy enough to make me want to sag to the ground. “Stiles, what’s your fault?”

I whisper the words, half afraid that once Derek hears them, he will see the truth of things and leave. “If I had been doing things the right way, and not hiding, I could have saved Laura. I’ve caused so much death just by not paying attention.”

My legs buckle from under me and it’s only Derek’s quick reflexes that save me from a face full of dirt. “No. Stiles, you were only doing what you thought was best.”

“No, I wasn’t. I didn’t want to hide, but I thought I had to. If I had my way, I would have been out every night, if for nothing else then to run about the preserve. If I had, then Laura would be alive, and you wouldn’t be alone. How can you even stand to be near me?” Tears are pooling in my eyes and I don’t want to cry, but now it seems inevitable. 

“Stiles, look at me.” He pulls my chin up so that I am staring into his ever-changing eyes. “If you had been out there, then Peter may have killed you instead. You wouldn’t be here right now.”

“But wouldn’t that be better? You would have your sister back.”

“She wouldn’t want that Stiles. You may have not known her, but you should know that.”

“Derek I-“

“NO!” he lets some of the Alpha voice come out with the word as his eyes bleed red. “This is not your fault, just like you said the deaths of my family aren’t mine. If you blame yourself for Laura, then that means their deaths are on me.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Not exactly, no, but in other ways, yes it is. The facts still remain, neither one of us killed them. It was the acts of others that did that.” He pulls me to his chest and lets me collect myself for a few minutes. 

After my breathing is calmed and the tears are dried away, I come to realize that Derek and I are both naked in the middle of the forest. I am sure that I am blushing about twenty shades of red right now. So I clear my throat and push back a bit. “So back home?” Derek only nods and we both shift to make our way back.

We don’t talk anymore about that moment in the woods, but Derek hasn’t let me forget it either. His touches come more often and there have been a few times where he finds me in the closet curled up in a furry little ball. He just shifts into his wolf form and curls around me. Our friendship is shifting and I can’t say that I mind all that much. 

…

Everything goes well for the next few weeks. I know that Derek is talking with Erica about receiving the bite and is getting all the facts from the horse’s mouth, as it were. I think it is going to happen right after the next full moon. That way she has a whole month to adjust to being a wolf and we don’t have another moon like Scott’s first. It is at a pack night that Scott texts me and says he is coming over and that he is bringing Allison. “Why?”

“I don’t know Derek. I asked him and he didn’t respond.” A deep growl comes out of his chest. “Look, he wouldn’t bring her unless it was something important. He knows how we all feel about the Argents, so does she for that matter. If she is willing to come to the wolf’s den, then that means she probably has a good reason.”

“Yeah, listen to Beast Boy. He knows what he’s talking about. Besides, Allison isn’t so bad once you get past the crazy, fanatic Hunter family.” Derek’s eyes flash to her now. “And that glare doesn’t work on me just yet. Can’t say for after I go all furry, but for now, I’m not impressed, Mr. Grinch.”

Scrunching my eyes at her, “I don’t think that was the one either.” 

She huffs and slumps back into the couch next to me. “I know, but I am running out of names.”

“You’ll find one eventually, Catwoman.” Derek’s growl simmers down at our banter, but he is still tense. “Don’t worry, sourwolf. It’ll be okay.” I put a hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t sit with us regularly on the couch but when he does, we all pile around him. Or at least as much as he will let us anyway. 

It doesn’t take too much longer before there is a sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. Derek stands up and puts himself in-between the door and the rest of us. Like Scott is going to bring Hunters here to hurt us. I sigh and move to open the door, but he holds his hand out and keeps me behind him. Before I can say anything, he opens the door and steps back in front of us as Scott comes in the Allison right behind him. 

Scott nods his head at Derek. “Hi.” Things have been tense between the two of the them since the night Kate and Peter died. Scott still hasn’t accepted Derek’s offer, and every time I try to talk to him about it, he talks around the question and slips away. I didn’t know that he was even able to do it, I guess I must be rubbing off my bad habits onto him. 

Derek just nods back, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. “Hey Allison. Scott wouldn’t tell me what this was all about, but I am guessing that you can?” I keep my tone polite but also make sure she knows that this isn’t a social call and that we have business to discuss. 

She nods back, there is an awful lot of nodding going on here. “I know that you don’t trust me, Derek, but I want you to. I don’t agree with anything that my family has done, or is doing. I wanted to come here and tell you that my grandfather is coming to Beacon Hills. Dad won’t say much to me, but from what I have overheard, this isn’t a good thing. I think he is coming here because of what happened t-to Kate.” She closes her eyes when she says her aunt’s name. The funeral was tough for her because she felt like she didn’t know the people she loves anymore. I know that she has been spending quite a few nights over at Lydia’s house because of that. “I don’t know for sure, but I think he is going to try and cause trouble for your pack. I can’t do anything to stop you, but I will do my best to keep you informed as to what he is doing. Enough blood has been spilled, I don’t want anymore.”

There is silence for a few minutes, and the tension has to break somehow. Guess that’s up to me. “You really know how to pick ‘em Scott. A Romeo and Juliet romance. Too bad she doesn’t seem the type to kill herself over a lost love.” I wink at him so he knows that I am only giving him a hard time. It gets a weak smile from him, but a full grin with dimples from her. Derek looks back to me and I ask him silently if she can stay. We have gotten a lot better at communicating with our eyebrows. He sighs and nods. “Why don’t you join us for some burnt popcorn and bad eighties movies?”

“Are you, are you sure?” she looks from me to Derek. 

“Yes. You helped us when we needed it. You’re welcome to stay.” I think that is very gracious of him, we are at his place after all, and letting someone he doesn’t trust in is like a no-go, so that means he is okay with her a little bit. Progress. 

“Hey, Scotty, why don’t you help me in the kitchen with drinks while they get the movie started?” There are questions written all over his puppy mug, but he comes with me anyway. Allison looks a bit nervous, but Erica comes over and grabs her arm.

“Come on Huntress.” I have to laugh at the comic reference and nick name. 

Once in the kitchen I turn on the faucet and the fan over the oven so that Derek will have a harder time listening in on our conversation. Scott give me a weird look, but then he catches on that I want to talk. “What is it Stiles? Why can’t we talk with out all that?” He gestures at the noise makers. 

“Because you are being an idiot and Derek doesn’t need to listen to you insult him as I try to talk to you about joining his pack.”

“Stiles I-“

“No, this is where you listen to me talk first, and then we actually talk about why you don’t want to be a part of a pack that makes total sense. I don’t get it, dude. I don’t get why you wouldn’t join the guy who helped you through all the tough shit that we went through. He has done nothing but try to help you, help us. He isn’t the one who turned you without consent. He helped to stop the one who did. He trained you, helped you find an anchor, risked his life for you. What is so bad about the guy? Why don’t you like him.”

Scott hunches in on himself almost like he knows he’s been petty and ridiculous. “I just… I didn’t want this, Stiles. I didn’t want any of this. I was forced into it and I’m still not okay with it all. If I join Derek’s pack, then that makes it real. Okay, it makes it real, and I’m not ready for that yet.”

I sigh and put an arm across his shoulders, pulling him close to me. “Buddy, it’s real whether or not you’re ready for it. I’m sorry that this sucks for you, and that you feel conflicted, but this is your life now. You really have two options here. Accept that you are part of the supernatural world, or try and keep yourself in denial. The first option will lead down a hard and sometimes painful road. It’s not always going to be puppy piles and pack nights. It means taking a stand against those who would hurt others and protecting the ones you care about. The second takes you down a dark and twisted path that will slowly drive you insane to the point of turning into your worst nightmare. You’ll hurt people you love and eventually you will lose yourself to instinct. The first path we are friends, brothers, just like always. The second I watch your every move and when, not if, the moment comes, and I put you down before you hurt someone. I know this is harsh, but that is our lives, Scotty, I love you. I want you to make a choice that you can live with.”

He keeps his gaze down. “He’s going to turn others, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Erica is getting the bite after the next full moon. He needs a pack, Scott. He needs a family. You gonna be a part of that?”

Finally he brings his eyes back up to meet mine and then embraces me in a tight hug. “Yeah, I am.” I tug him a bit closer. When we separate I knock him upside the head. “Hey!”

“Took you long enough.” He laughs and we go back into the living room with some drinks. Before he sits down Scott approaches Derek.

“Uh, if the offer still stands, I’d like to join your pack.” Derek looks to me for a second and I nod my head with a smile. 

Derek moves his head in a sharp nod, “Of course.” As we settle in to watch the movie I hear a quiet thank you from Derek. One that I know Scott didn’t hear. Even with a possible new threat coming, things finally seem like they are coming together. I only hope that Grandpa Argent won’t cause too much trouble for us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was kind of a hard chapter to get out and a bit shorter than I may have liked, but I like all the elements that were put in here. I am not going into large detail about somethings, like the trial with Isaac's father. Mostly because I don't know the legal system outside of what you see on cop shows and Law and Order. If you have questions about things, I have an idea of what would happen in this vers, and would be more than happy to answer. 
> 
> I want to focus more on the creation of the pack and how they all act. This chapter was about Stiles and Scott, The next will probably be Erica, Boyd, and Isaac. Also starting with the Gerard conflict. There is no Kanima in my vers because Jackson never received the bite, but he still knows about werewolves so he will be making an appearance. I have plans for Lydia so that will involve him. 
> 
> Thank you for all your continuing support in this venture! I always look forward to seeing what you guys think! So please don't be afraid to comment and tell me how awful or wonderful I am doing.


	7. Becoming a Leader and a New Enemy

Fire. Burning flesh and fire. It’s all I can smell. The flames dance behind my eye lids and the smoke burns in my eyes. A roar lets loose and then gasping. I can’t move, I can’t block it out, it just keeps coming. 

I am jerked out of sleep and into Isaac’s embrace. “Stiles, it’s okay, you’re okay.” One of his hands stoke up and down my back in a soothing gesture. “It was only a nightmare.” I hug him back hard and wrap my fingers in the fabric of his shirt so that he can’t move away. 

We sit there for a few minutes before Isaac lowers me back to the bed. I pull him down with me and hide my face in the crook of his arm focusing on his steady heart. This isn’t the first time he has woken me from the dreams that now seem to plague me. 

“Was it Peter again?” I nod my head slowly. “It wasn’t you’re fault. You didn’t kill him. Argent did that. Scott and Derek both said. He put three bullets in him. It wasn’t you.”

I keep my voice low and try to keep back the panic attack that is threatening to start. “I know, but it was me who burned him. A second time I might add, as if the first wasn’t enough. I put him through the agony of it, again.”

“From what you guys have told us, it kinda seemed like he deserved it. I mean, he killed his own niece just for power. Someone like that doesn’t deserve to live.” I can’t really argue with that statement, and I don’t want to. The silence stretches. I am thankful for his presence though, without it, I don’t know what I would be dreaming next, or if they would ever stop. I am almost asleep again when Isaac speaks up. “I don’t think I want the bite.”

That has me paying attention and wide awake again. So I sit up to show Isaac that I am listening. “Why not?”

“I don’t want to be a monster. I know that Derek and Scott aren’t monsters, that isn’t what I mean.” He starts to play with the hem of his shirt. “I don’t want to end up like my father. He is a true monster, and I’m afraid of what I might do if I have the kind of power they do, what it would do to me.”

“First off, there is no way in hell that you would be anything like him. Secondly, you would handle the power just fine.”

“How do you know? How do you know that I wouldn’t go crazy and try to hurt someone?”

“I know because I know you. I know that you would rather hurt yourself than anyone else. Yes, it is a struggle and the first few moons are tricky, but once you find your anchor and get some training, you would be fine, better than fine. I have so much confidence in you Isaac, I just wish that you could have that in yourself.”

He blushes a bit but we settle back into the pillows and snuggle up under the covers. “I don’t know.”

“Look, no one is going to force you to take the bite. It is totally up to you. And if you don’t take it, that’s cool. Talk to Derek about it. I know that he still seems a bit grumpy, but he’s kind of like an onion.”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s got layers.” He rolls his eyes using his whole body, but laughs at the joke. “You sure he won’t mind?”

“Positive.” The silence overtakes us again, and I am able to fall asleep, this time feeling safer with the presence of another. Hopefully the nightmares will go away with time.

…

The next day after school Isaac and I head for Derek’s place. The plan was for everyone to meet up for homework, but Scott and Allison were going off to have one of their super-secret dates that everyone totally knows about, and Erica was still talking with Boyd in the library. They haven’t quite gotten to the point of dating yet, but they have been talking more and more. So it’s just Isaac and I. 

We set up our normal study area in the large living room area which consists of two large couches and a few cushy arm chairs. There is a low coffee table that gets covered with our books and papers, which is where we are when Derek comes down from his room upstairs. Isaac looks over at him with hesitation, so I just gently nudge him to go. 

Slowly he gets up and walks halfway over to Derek who is getting something out of the fridge. “Derek? I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?”

“Sure.” He comes back out of the kitchen with a confused look on his face. His gaze goes from me to Isaac. 

I start to get up, “I’ll just go get some food-“

“No, Stiles. It’s okay, you can stay.”

“Are you sure, Isaac?”

“Yeah, I trust you.” Those words coming from Isaac hit me right in the gut. Trusting anyone having gone through what he has means a lot. So not able to get any words out, I just sink back to my Trig homework. It takes a few minutes before Isaac can work his way up to saying anything. Derek has taken a seat in the arm chair closest to me and Isaac has sat back down across from me where he was before. “I wanted to talk to you about my place in the pack.”

“Okay?”

“What I mean, is, if I choose to stay human, is there still a place for me?” Isaac is very quiet when he utters the words, and pulls in on himself. It is almost reminiscent of when he was still living with his father. 

“Yes. A pack isn’t always made of only wolves. Stiles isn’t a wolf, but he is pack.”

“Yeah, but he is a different kind of supernatural being, I’m just… human.”

Derek looks to me like I have the answers, but I just ignore him. He has to learn how to talk to his pack members without me pushing him along. I know he can do it, he just has to believe in himself. When he senses that I am not going to be forthcoming with any advice he grumbles under his breath but turns back to Isaac. “Being human isn’t a weakness. It’s a strength. My-my family had quite a few humans in it. They make the pack more grounded. It’s easy to give into the instinct and let the animal take over. Humans help us remember who we are, that there is more than the primal drive. If you choose not to take the bite, Isaac, I won’t think any less of you. Actually, I will think more of you.”

“What?” He looks a bit confused at Derek’s honesty. 

“You have the choice to be stronger, faster, more, than what you are. You could be all that, but if you choose to remain human, you are choosing to fight for yourself without the advantages this life can bring. Being human in a pack of wolves isn’t easy, you might feel left out sometimes and we may try to baby you every once in a while, but someone like you wouldn’t let that stop them from trying to do more, be more, than what anyone could expect of you. The fact that you were brave enough to confront me about this goes a long way to prove that.” Derek looks down as he keeps speaking. “I know that I am not always the easiest to get along with, that I’m not always agreeable, but as long as you are in my pack, human or wolf, I will be there for you.” 

Isaac looks like he’s on the verge of tears, but I can tell that it is from a good place, not a sad one. “Thank you, Derek. I-I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I have a lot to think about.” 

We go back to doing our homework and eventually Erica and Boyd show up to join us. Derek orders some Chinese food and we eat while we study. Derek stays quieter than most nights, just sitting in his chair reading a book, but I see the casual glances up he makes at us. I doubt he gets more than three pages read the whole time we are there. 

When darkness begins to fall, we start packing up our stuff and I toss my keys at Isaac. “Go get the Jeep started; I’ll be down in a minute.” He sends me an inquisitive look, but I just nod my head towards the stairs to get him moving. Once he is in the stairwell, I look over to Derek. 

“What is it Stiles?” He doesn’t even look up from the page he must have read a hundred times in the last two hours. 

“You did good today. Knew you had it in you.” He just quirks an eyebrow at me. “Well you did. You said exactly what he needed to hear.”

He puts his book down on the coffee table and leans forward on his knees. “I just said what was true.”

“Exactly. We don’t want you to tiptoe around words, Derek. We want you to be a leader. Sometimes that means telling the truth, even when a lie would be easier to bear. Sometimes it means being a big brother or a friend. Sometimes it means just being there in the same room as us without saying anything at all. You are doing a good job. I don’t think I tell you that often enough, but you are. I know you think that you weren’t born to be the Alpha, and while that may hold some truth, it’s also complete shit.” He looks a bit flabbergasted, and I can’t help but laugh. “Just thought you out to know, sourwolf.” 

…

The next night has Derek and I running in the preserve to make sure that there aren’t any traps set for the full moon the following night. Scott is doing a lot better than his first few moons, but he still isn’t always perceptive of his surroundings. With grandpa Argent coming to town, Derek has been more on edge, so we haven’t gone out all the much to run, but tonight I finally convinced him that Scott needed it. Spending every full moon cooped in my basement has got to be hell on both of them. 

Usually when we run it’s in silence. But tonight Derek seems to have something lurking under the surface. “Dude, just spit it out already.” 

It takes him a few minutes, but we slow down to a casual walk and eventually he stops all together. “Boyd asked me for the bite today.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he came over before he went to school. He said that he has been talking to Erica about it and has read some of the books you gave him.” He sends me a raised eyebrow.

“What? That knowledge is for the whole pack. If he wants to read it, who am I to stop him? I knew that he was talking to Erica about it. He asked for the books like two weeks ago. I thought that he would ask, I just wasn’t sure when.” Derek grunts and stares off into the woods. “So, what did you say?”

“I told him that Erica will receive it first, because she has the greater need for it. That if he still wanted it after the next full moon, then I would give it to him.”

“Okay, then why do you still seem so disgruntled about the whole thing?”

“I just- I want to make sure they all know what this life holds. I understand why Scott isn’t happy about the bite being forced on him. I’ve grown up being a werewolf, I don’t know any other way, but they all have a choice, and this would only put them in more danger.”

Something in my chest warms at that. Derek is thinking about how this could hurt his pack. How it would affect them. He really has changed quite a bit from the surly man who refused to share when we first met. “Yes, but it is their choice. Why don’t I text them and tell them to meet up at my house before we go running tomorrow? That way you can lay it all out for them, and then maybe your martyr complex will be satisfied that you did all you could to warn them.” He nods in acquiescence, and we continue our run. 

I send out the texts and after we finish only finding a few traps, we head back into town. Tomorrow is going to be tense, but I think that everyone will be better off once Derek gets this off his chest. 

…

“So what was this pow-wow about? Was everything okay in the preserve?” Everyone’s here and we have a few hours before we plan to go out on our run. 

“Yes, Erica, everything is fine. Derek just wanted you all to be here cause he has something he would like to talk to you about.” I pull Scott off to the kitchen to grab some snacks and drinks while the others get settled. “Scott, could you just let him speak? This is going to be hard for him to do, and we know how you feel about things, but just let him say his peace without interrupting him, okay?”

Scott gives me a quizzical look, but says nothing; just nods and we bring out the food. I nod to Derek so that he can begin. 

Talking isn’t always Derek’s strong suit, but when he feels passionately about something, he can really get going. “So, I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about the bite. I know that you have heard Stiles, Scott, and I talk about it before, but I just feel like I need to lay all of this out there for you. It’s a major decision and not one that should be made lightly. The bite can either turn you or kill you. That is something that you have to know going in. Being bitten could kill you. Not even just from the bite, but from the danger that comes with being a wolf. You have more to fear than your own instincts. There are Hunters out there that want to kill you simply for existing. There are other packs that may come to try and claim the territory, my claim as Alpha, or even your place in my pack. There are wolves without packs that may try to get through our territory, ones that will have to be dealt with, if you are a wolf, you will have to help me with that. There are other creatures that will also come here. There is a source of power in the preserve, it acts like a beacon to the supernatural community, this town was once protected by my family, I have left it unguarded for far too long. Now, I’m back, and I plan on staying. It won’t always be easy, but with all of that also comes a pack. Pack means never having to deal with something on your own. There will always be someone there to help you when you need it. I will always be there when you need me.”

He lets the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. Finally sitting down on the couch next to me. “There are other dangers as well. Mostly from yourself. Scott can tell you that he has a rough few first months. His circumstances were different though, he didn’t have an Alpha to guide him through everything-“

“-No, but I had you. And you were better than any Alpha I could have had.” I’m glad that Scott interrupted Derek with that. It eases some tension out of Derek and the room. This is a heavy talk, but Scott is there to show that Derek is doing a good job so far, and that he can be counted on when the going gets tough. 

Derek only nods his head in thanks and keeps going. “But I will be there to help you. The instinct is only a part of you; it doesn’t have to define you. My mother once told me that just because we are predators doesn’t mean we have to killers. I hold true to that as best I can. But at the same time, when it comes to the safety of my pack, no one will stand in my way. I want you three to make the best educated decision that you can. If you choose to remain human, you will still have a place here. I can’t guarantee what the future holds, and if any of you want out at any time, that’s fine. But once you’re a wolf, there is no turning back.”

Everyone stays pretty quiet for a few minutes, but then Erica, my blonde goddess, speaks up. “Thank you for laying it all out there like that, but my mind is made up. I don’t want to have to fear for the next seizure attack, I want to feel like I finally have some kind of control in my life. I know that it won’t come right away, but it will eventually, right?” Derek nods his head. “Okay, so that’s that. Tomorrow I get the bite.” She slumps back into her seat next to Boyd and opens up a bag of chips to start munching on. 

Boyd and Isaac obviously look like they still have some thinking to do, so I switch topics to defuse the room a bit. “Okay, how about a movie before we let the wolves loose, huh?” I grab a random movie and put it in the DVD player and sit down to watch it. Derek seems to be a bit more relaxed now, but I can tell that the full moon is still edging on him. I place a hand on his knee and squeeze to give him an extra bit of comfort, and it seems to do the job. 

Dad comes home just as the movie is finishing up and Erica and Boyd are leaving. “Son, I want you to be careful tonight.” 

“I know dad, believe me, the last thing I want is any more trouble. Thing is, it seems to find me, not the other way around.”

He huffs out a laugh and claps a hand to my shoulder. “That’s what I’m worried about, son.” I just roll my eyes and go upstairs to change into some shorts and a shirt I don’t really care about. I’m not entirely sure what the night will hold, but since I am running with two wolves, I know it will probably involve a little rough-housing. Isaac gives me a hug and a goodnight before going to his room for bed. 

Scott and Derek are downstairs at the back door when I get down there. “Okay, Scott, just make sure to always have either Derek or me in your sights at all times, and if you sense anything, get to us, or back here to the basement. Okay?” Shaking out his limbs to loosen them up, he gives me a nod and jumps up and down a few times as if he is getting ready to run a marathon. In some ways, I guess he is. 

Once we get outside and past the tree line, we all let go a bit and start running. It’s really nice to be able to let go every once in a while. Not having to pull back so much. I get to do this with Derek more now, but with the pull of the moon, he is a little less controlled. He gets to let his hair down as it were. 

We run for a few hours before anything happens, because something always has to happen. I’m the first one to pick it up and soon after Derek and Scott hear it too. There are people moving through the woods. Some on ATV’s others on foot. And here I thought we would be okay for a bit of a moonlit stroll. I keep my senses open and start to lead us away from the intruders, but that only leads us across the path of something else. An Omega, great. Derek and Scott try to go after him, but I hold them back. Good thing I did too, because not a minute later, there is the sound of gunshots and a howl of pain. Scott tries to race forward to help, but it is too late. Derek holds him back this time, but we do edge a bit closer to hear what is being said. 

Once we get close enough I silently climb up a tree to get a better look at the scene, and find about five Hunters. One of which is Chris Argent and another that is quite a bit older. He must be Gerard. This is going to go so well. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Nothing, I swear.” Chris isn’t the most diplomatic, but seeing as this guy really hasn’t done anything other than wander into Derek’s territory, well, I doubt that is what he was shot for. 

“You’re not from here, are you?” The Omega doesn’t respond so Chris shouts, “Are you!”

“No.” He sounds weak, not surprising if those bullets landed and had wolfsbane in them. “I came looking for the Alpha.” I look down at Derek and him up at me. This guy wanted to join the pack. “I heard he was here. That’s all. Look, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t hurt anyone.”

Then Gerard starts in. Just from the sound of his voice, I can tell that I already hate him. “Gentlemen, take a look at a rare sight. You want to tell them what we’ve caught?” He looks to Chris.

“An Omega.”

“A lone wolf. Possibly kicked out of his own pack. Or the survivor of a pack that was hunted down. Maybe even murdered.” The sound in his voice is a little too over joyous at that option. “And possibly alone by his own choice. Certainly not a wise choice.” He turns back to one of his lackeys, and Chris looks vaguely uncomfortable. He pulls out a bastard sword and is looking at it like Christmas came early. “Because, as I am about to demonstrate, an Omega, rarely survives on his own.” 

I can hear Scott struggling against Derek, but he just pulls him into an embrace and tries to quiet him, while looking up at me. I have to look back, if I see any more of Gerard, I can’t promise that I won’t hurl a thousand balls of fox fire at him. 

Chris finally speaks up after Gerard wipes his blade in the grass. “We have a code. We can’t go around breaking it. He didn’t hurt anyone; we should have let him go.” Even though I doubt he would have made it much further with all that wolfsbane in his system.

“Not when they murder my daughter.” Murder? I mean yeah, Peter did that, but she killed others. Not that a crazy geriatric like Gerard would care. Hell he is probably the one who came up with the plan in the first place. 

And that makes me pause. Kate said that she was only following orders. If that were true, then it would mean that someone else planned it and that she was only carrying said plan out. Gerard could very well be the master mind behind the whole thing. If he is, then I am going to find out. While I don’t agree with the way Peter went about doing things, I do agree that justice needs to be served. Gerard is all but declaring war against us. “No code, not anymore. From now on these things are just bodies waiting to be cut in half. Are you listening? Because I don’t care if they’re wounded and weak. Or seemingly harmless, begging for their life with the promise that they will never, ever hurt anyone. Or some desperate, lost soul with no idea what they’re getting into. We find them. We kill them. We kill them all.” 

They clear out after taking care of the body. It almost seemed as if Gerard knew who was in the pack. If that is the case, then we have to be extra careful from now on. He has to have some other source of knowledge or way of getting it, if he knows that much about us. I am pretty sure that Allison isn’t two timing us, but I will have to keep extra eyes on her for now just in case.

When they are finally out of range of my senses, I drop back down to the ground and silently pull Derek and Scott back to my house with me. Dad is asleep when we get in, and for that I am glad. I will tell him about what happened, but for now, he can rest easy and not have to worry. 

“I can’t believe they did that.” Scott is in a bit of shock, so I hand him a glass of water and guide him to a chair. 

“This is why I was warning you off of Allison all that time. Chris seems like a pretty stand-up guy, but I knew that he wouldn’t be okay with his daughter dating a wolf. And you heard Gerard back there. He isn’t giving mercy to anyone. I know that this may hurt you, but maybe you should consider taking a break with Allison. I’m sure she’d understand if you just told her what was going on.”

“Stiles, I…”

“I know, Scotty, but it’s just as dangerous for her as it is for you. If he finds out that his granddaughter is dating a wolf, then, well, I don’t know what that man is capable of. He’s crazy.” Scott looks a bit defeated. “How about we talk to her together, let her in on what’s going on, and then let her make the final choice?” Scott seems to accept that solution for now. Then I turn to Derek and he speaks before I am even given the chance. 

“I will talk with Erica tomorrow. It is risky to give her the bite now. I will still give it to her if she wants it, but we have to be more careful now. Argent is a dangerous enemy, and we can’t take any of them lightly.”

“And here I thought we were going to have a nice lull in all the crazy that was going on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your support! Please let me know what you think!!!!


	8. Giving and Receiving of Trust

“So are you going to tell me what happened last night, or are we just going to sit here in silence until you leave for school?” Never could hide anything from dad. Not really. 

“I was gonna tell you, I just haven’t quite figured out how to do it yet.”

Isaac looks up at me from across the table. He was still up last night when we got home and I told him what happened. He is worried, just like me. I really don’t know what to do right now. “And?”

“Dad, I think this is a conversation that should wait till after school.” I can’t even look up and meet his gaze. He is going to try and involve himself in this and that would be really dangerous for him. More so that it already is just by having me as a son. 

“Stiles, whatever it is, we can handle it together. But we will handle it together. So, spit it out.” 

Knowing he’s not going to let this rest, “Well, you know that Derek, Scott, and I went out to run in the preserve last night, right? We kinda came across some Hunters.”

Dad gives a big sigh. “More Argents?”

“Uh, yeah. It seems that with Kate’s death, her father, Gerard, decided to come to town and make it his mission to wipe out all things wolfy.”

“That includes you?”

“Well, I am part of the pack, so… I guess?”

“Stiles.” He rolls his eyes at me and heaves another sigh. 

“I know dad, this is bad. We are all going to have to lay low for a while. Derek and I have already talked to Scott, and we are just going to try our best to keep our heads down. Chris knows about all three of us, but I don’t think that he has told Gerard about Scott or I.”

“What about Derek?”

“There is no way that Gerard doesn’t know he’s here. And I can guarantee that the Argent cronies are going to tell him about me and how I stood up for him at the gas station, and that he was staying here for a while. So he will probably know about me, and know that you are involved somehow. But because you are the Sheriff, and I am your kid, he can’t really make a move against me. You are too far into the public eye for him to really pull anything off.”

“I feel like there’s a but in there somewhere.”

“Kinda? I mean, he can’t do anything to you or me, but Derek is an open target. Yes, the town knows that he was staying here and that he is a friend of the Stilinski family, but he doesn’t have any other ties here.”

“What is it you are exactly asking here kid?”

“I was just thinking that maybe you could have a few patrols run by his building every once in a while. Just to make sure that everything is on the up and up.”

“Does Derek know that you are asking this? It doesn’t really seem like something that he would agree to willingly.”

“Um… not exactly?” Dad shoots me a glare. “Look, he wouldn’t agree to this, he would say that he can handle himself and not to worry anyone. But dad, I am worried. He has Scott, and me, and the rest of the pack now, but he is still alone for the vast majority of the day. I can’t be in school and have his back at the same time.”

Dad drags a hand down his face in obvious exasperation. “Why doesn’t he get a job? That would take up some time and get him out of his apartment, around people. There has to be something in this town for him to do.”

“I asked him that too, he said that until he has a stable pack, being the Alpha was his job.” My hands go up in a defensive posture before he can respond, “I know, I know, I told him that it doesn’t really work that way, but he was adamant that it was what he had to do for now.”

“What is he living off of, how is he affording to live?” He sounds like he is about done with this conversation, and I can’t really blame him. 

“I didn’t ask.” I have a few theories, but they aren’t ones I am going to give away to my father. If Derek wanted me to know, then he would have told me. “Maybe you can talk to him? I don’t think he would go for a full-time job or anything, but maybe you can get him to volunteer at the station or something? He listens to you more than he listens to anyone else.”

Dad looks at me like I’m lying, but I don’t know what was wrong with that statement. “Fine, I will talk to him.”

“And the patrols?” I ask hopefully.

“And the patrols, but if he starts asking questions, I am going to tell him that it was your idea.”

“That’s okay.” I think I can handle a few extra surly glances and moody silences as long as Derek is protected like the rest of us. 

We keep eating our breakfast in silence until dad looks up from the paper and his coffee. “Why are you taking it upon yourself to make sure all of this happens? Isn’t that Derek’s job as the Alpha?”

“I’m Derek’s second, that makes this my job. He has a lot on his plate right now, so I am trying to help lighten the load a bit.” Dad gives me another look, but this is one I can’t decipher, so I don’t even try. “We better get going, Isaac. Don’t want to be late for school.” He nods and goes to get his bag from upstairs.

Just as I am about to go out to the jeep to get it started, dad grabs my arm. “Son, just, be careful. Okay?”

“I always am dad.”

“I know you are, your mother taught you well. I just don’t want anything to happen to you, understand.”

I pull him into a hug. “I know pops. Don’t worry too much though; I can take care of myself.” He clutches me tight, then lets me go as Isaac is headed back down the stairs. “Have a good day at school.” 

Well, that’s one major conversation down, only a few more to go.

…

School starts off normal, just like always. But with the conversation Scott and I have to have with Allison hanging over Scott’s head, he is down more than usual. I know that he really likes her, but this relationship seems like it has been doomed from the start. I know that I haven’t been all the supportive of it, that I am constantly telling Scott to get out, and that it isn’t really best friend behavior… but I’m worried that something is going to happen with her family and I can’t let it go. 

If Allison wasn’t associated with a vicious Hunter family, then I would be all for the star-crossed romance. In fact, I would be willing to pass notes and messages for them. Unfortunately we are not in that fantasy world. There is a real threat just by being associated with her. 

And that really sucks, because from what I have come to know about Allison, she seems pretty kick-ass. She not only helped me escape, but she can fend off the likes of Lydia and Jackson, all while dealing with her psycho family members. She has been pretty fair since Derek became the Alpha, and hasn’t even judged the others when it had been made known that a few of them were considering the bite. She really has nothing against wolves, and isn’t scared to be around Scott or I. I’m just worried because I don’t want to see either of them hurt. 

During our free period, we pull her out to the empty lacrosse field to talk. “Scott, what’s wrong? You have been on edge all day?”

Scott scratches the back of his head and looks down at his toe scuffing the grass at his feet. See… Allison… I…”

“What Scotty here is trying and failing at saying is that he thinks that it might be a good idea for you two to take a break.”

He looks back to me with a betrayed look on his face. “Stiles! That is not what I was-“ Turning to Allison with a bit of fear, “what I was trying to say is that we heard your father and grandpa in the woods last night, and that it is going to get really dangerous for all of us if they find out we are together.”

“It’s already dangerous. Alli, your gramps is a few fruits short of a loop. He said that it was pretty much open season on any and all wolves, which by association means me, my dad, and Isaac. He is going to go to any means to take out all of us. He isn’t following to code anymore, and if you and Scott keep your Romeo and Juliet romance going, it is going to end badly. I know you helped us, and you seem like a real cool, kick-ass, BAMF, but your family is coo-coo bananas.”

Scott’s heart rate skyrockets and I know that he is feeling the urge to strangle me, but she needs to know what is up. How dangerous this is for her and for us. “Stiles, I know that my family is crazy. I know that I want nothing to do with what they are about. My dad has slowly been introducing me to the code and what it is they do, but the more I see, and the better I get to know you, I can see that they are wrong. The code says that we hunt those who hunt us, and the thing is, you guys don’t hunt us. They hunt you.” Her use of pronouns is interesting. Definitely caught my attention. “After everything that happened last month, I know that I don’t want anything to do with that unless things change. My father said that the females in our family are the ones who make the rules and decisions. I’m too new to all this to have my voice heard, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t keep my mouth shut and my ears open.”

“Are you really offering to spy for us?” I would say I can’t believe it, but Allison has proven that she isn’t what is always shown on the surface. 

“Yes, I am. I doubt that Derek would let me into the pack or even trust me for that matter, but I don’t wish any harm on you or the pack. I really care about Scott, and I don’t want to see anything happen to you guys.”

“Allison, it’s too dangerous!”

“Scott, I know this isn’t the safe way to play this, but I’ve let them lie and push me around for too long now. I am so done being used like that.”

Scott looks between us with incredulity. “Are you really considering this, Stiles?”

The thing is, I am. I know that Derek won’t trust what she says right now, but he will trust me. “Alli, this isn’t like playing superheroes. You could get really hurt. Are you willing to do that? To go against your entire family?”

“Yes. What they are doing is wrong.” She didn’t even hesitate, and there was no tick to her heart. I look for other signs that appear when someone is lying, sweat, eye twitches, physical ticks, nothing. She is being one hundred percent honest right now. So I do the only sane thing, I hold out my hand to her.

She smiles and shakes it. “Welcome to team supernatural!” Scott still looks like he can’t believe this is happening, but now that this is settled it’s time to talk business. “Okay, so we know that gramps is a special brand of evil douche-bag, but your dad went along with it. It doesn’t seem like he is the kind of man to just sit idly by and let that precious code get broken for here to infinity and beyond. Try talking to him and see if he is really with Gerard, or if he could be persuaded to work against him. I don’t know how you feel about your grandfather, but try and get close to him too. He seems like the kind of villain to spill all his deepest secrets to anyone willing to listen. Plus, you can learn a lot from him.”

“You want me to learn to be a Hunter?”

“Yes. What better source of information than one that is part of them. You’re like a double agent. Become one of them, learn their ways, so that way when push comes to claw, you know how they fight and can tell us what to expect. I don’t think we are going to get out of this without a fight starting.” What I’m not saying is that I have my own theory. If what Kate said was true the night she was killed, then that means she wasn’t the mastermind behind the Hale fire. That she was just a soldier following orders. Even though the Argents are a self-proclaimed matriarchy, I wouldn’t put it past Gerard to go above and beyond his position to get exactly what he wants. 

“Okay. I can do that.”

“Allison! Stiles! This is crazy! What are you guys thinking? We are only teenagers!”

“Yeah, but we are teenagers that have been dropped into the middle of a warzone. You gotta play with the hand you are dealt Scott. This is our hand, fortunately we have a pretty bad-ass one.” Allison looks like she has something else to say. “Anything you’d like to share?”

“It’s nothing, well, I don’t know, maybe it is.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just that Lydia has been acting strange ever since the winter formal.”

“Weird how?” If there is one thing I know from living in the town, it’s that nothing is what it seems. 

“I don’t know, she just gets these vacant looks every once in a while. Like she is a million miles away. Most of the time I am able to pull her out of it, but they are getting stronger.”

“Vacant looks?”

“Yeah, like she is hearing something that no one else can. She started writing down names whenever it happens. I only saw one of them, and when I looked it up the next day, there was an obituary. The person died the day she wrote the name. 

Wow, Lydia might be a Banshee. That is an interesting development. “If she is what I think she is, you need to keep an eye on her.”

“What do you think she is?”

“I don’t want to say just yet in case I’m wrong, but I’ll talk to Derek about it and try and find some more information. She isn’t in danger, just possibly coming into some latent powers.”

She nods and the bell rings, signaling that the period is over and it’s time to go to our next class. Allison waves us off and Scott and I make our way back to the school. 

“Stiles, I don’t like this. It’s too dangerous for her. What if she gets hurt?”

“Scott, it’s risky for her either way, at least this way she is on our side, she is helping us, and we can help to keep an eye on her too. It works both ways you know.”

“I still don’t like it.”

Sighing, I rest my hand on his shoulder and keep us walking. “You don’t have to like it, Scott, you just have to accept it as reality.”

…

When I get out of school there is a text waiting on my phone from Derek.

‘Come over asap’

So I guess that means he knows about the patrols running around his building. I text him that I am picking up some pizzas and that I will be right over. Then I text Erica asking if she can get Boyd to pick up Isaac and Scott on his way over with them. 

Once I get in the door, Derek has the pizzas out of my hands and me pulled into the center of the room. “You had a detail put on me!”

“Remember what we said about punctuation? That should have ended in a question mark, not an exclamation point.”

“Stiles” It comes out a growl, but I can’t help it. I love getting a reaction out of him. 

“Yes, I put a detail on you.”

“Why.”

“Because you are by yourself for about nine hours a day, longer if you include the time when you are sleeping. There are Hunters out there who mean to kill you, Derek. It’s my job as your second to make sure that this pack stays safe. You do a pretty damn good job about taking care of us, but a pretty shitty one of taking care of yourself. You won’t get a job, and I get why, but it also leaves you exposed. If the Hunters see that you are being watched, or at least think that you are, then they aren’t going to move against you.”

“Stiles, I can’t-“

“Can’t what? Stay safe? Let someone else take care of you? Cause that is all bullshit and you know it. Now, if you would do something with your spare time, like say, volunteer at the Sherriff’s department, then you would have ties to the community, people who see you on a regular basis, and possibly let yourself move on from whatever it is that is keeping you back. Did I miss anything?”

He doesn’t respond, just turns and looks out the window with a tense line to his shoulders.

I hate doing that, but he needs more reality checks than even Scott. So I step up beside him and brush against his shoulder to let him know I’m there. “Look, I’m sorry I yelled, but you gotta take care of yourself here too. If you get caught and killed, that leaves Scott alone with me. He needs you, the pack needs you. I know it’s hard to ask for help, believe me I know, but you have people to help you now. Lean on us and we will lean on you. I’m just trying to do what you asked me to.”

“I know. I’m sorry that I’m making all of this harder than it needs to be. You’re right, I need to get out of this apartment.”

“Good, I will tell dad to expect you tomorrow at the station at eleven. Don’t know what he will have for you to do, but I’m sure he’s got something.” I move back to my backpack that I dropped by the coffee table and reach down to open it up and take out a sheath of cloth.

“What’s that?” Derek followed me over. Standing up and turning to face him, I hold it out for him to take. When he uncovers it, his eyes go wide. “Stiles, I can’t take this, this is your tail!”

“Derek, I’m asking you to keep my tail safe. You’re my Alpha, I trust you with my life. I am trusting you with my life.” I pause to gather my thoughts for a moment. “You know what happens when a Kitsune breaks their only tail, right?”

“You lose your immortality. Stiles, I don’t think you should be giving this to me.” He tries to give it back but I step back and push it back toward him.

“No, I think you are exactly who I should trust with it. I know that you will guard it with your life. I know that if it is with you, it won’t be stolen by someone who would use it against me. You are letting me take care of you, now I’m asking that you take care of this for me.” He looks resistant for a little while longer, but finally relents and goes down the hall to his bedroom. I hear a few things moving around, but I don’t follow and start to focus on the noises coming from outside to get myself out of the apartment. I really do trust Derek. If he doesn’t believe that now, I don’t know what else I can do to show him.

He comes back about five minutes later and rests a hand on the back of my neck. “Thank you for putting your trust in me. I won’t let you down.”

“Didn’t think you would, Sourwolf. Now, I can hear Boyd’s car down the street, better get ready for the hormone infusion to start.” He rolls his eyes and squeezes the back of my neck before walking into the kitchen to grab plates and drinks for everyone. 

Erica, Isaac, and Boyd walk in all talking and in good spirits, but Scott is still carrying the vestiges of our conversation with Allison. As he walks by I punch him in the arm and he mellows out a bit. 

The pizza is gone within a few minutes and Derek is tense as we clean up. “Okay, what has got your undies in a bundle, O Alpha, my Alpha?”

“There is something I need to talk to you about before we go through with this.”

She looks like she is ready to tear his balls off. “I swear to God if you ask me if I’m sure I want this one more time, I-“

“-no, that’s not it. I just wanted to warn you. Last night on our full moon run, we ran into an Omega.”

“Okay? What’s the big deal then?”

“Before we could reach him, he was trapped by the Argents.”

I can tell that Derek really doesn’t want to talk about this, that it hits a bit close to home. So I take over. “And let’s just say that they were less than welcoming. Gerard, Allison’s grandpa, cut him clean in half with a bastard sword. Then he went on to spew some garbage about how he is throwing away the code and he is going to kill any wolf, no matter who they are. Derek just wants you to know that right now is going to be a dangerous time to be starting all of this. You are going to have to be extra careful not to step one toe out of line or give them a reason to kill you other than just existing.”

Derek nods. “I am still willing to give you the bite if you want it, I just wanted you to know how much danger you will be in now if you take it.”

She seems to think it over a bit, withdrawing into herself a little. When she looks up, there is a look of determination on her face. “I want it. You have told me what is out to get me, and I know the dangers, but I want the bite. Not only will this help me, but you said that a larger pack is stronger, right? That you are stronger with more wolves?”

“That is true, with numbers come strength, but that isn’t a reason to make this decision, it has to be about you, not me.”

“This is about me. I’m tired of being weak, of being a freak. I want to live a life where I don’t have to worry if I am going to seize up at any given time. I want to learn how to drive. I want to help protect my friends. I want to do this for me. Helping you out is just one of the benefits.”

Derek looks stunned at her deceleration. Slowly, he gets up and walks over to her and hold out his hand which she stands to accept. “It would be an honor to bring you into the pack.” Somehow I feel like this is a more formal method of doing things. Maybe it’s in one of the books that Derek has from when his mother was the Alpha. Is there werewolf protocol? I will have to ask him that later. 

They go into the spare bedroom and close the door. This is for a bit of privacy. A few minutes later after a sharp cry from Erica, they come back out with her holding her side in obvious pain. When she sits, Scott is there to start drawing it away from her with Derek. After she is relaxed a bit, I start to tell Derek about our new spy in the enemy camp.

“So, Scotty and I had an interesting conversation with Allison today.”

“Oh, really?” Derek’s eyebrows raise so high that I think they might run away into this forehead.

“Yeah, we were talking about them going on a break, but came to a different conclusion instead.”

“Stiles.”

He says it with is typical loathing that is only ever directed at me. “We did. She doesn’t agree with anything her crazy family is about. She doesn’t even want to go through the training to join the ‘family business’. But I convinced her otherwise.”

“You told her to become a Hunter?” Isaac asks tentatively, like he couldn’t believe I would suggest such a thing.

“Yeah, I did. I said that if she was willing, she should learn whatever she can from them, and then tell us all about it. That she should try and get close to Gerard, so she can find out what his plans for the pack are. I told her it would put her in a very precarious position, and that she would effectively be betraying her family, but she wants to do it. I know you don’t fully trust her, Derek, for that matter, neither do I. But if we are going to give her a chance, this is it.”

“How do you know she isn’t already double crossing us? After all, she is so willing to do so to her own flesh and blood.”

Scott makes a wounded noise, but I just keep going as if I didn’t hear it. “Because I was listening to her heartbeat, watched her pupils, and looked for the other signs of someone telling a lie. I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years, seeing as who my dad is, and she was being one hundred percent honest with me. She doesn’t like what her family is doing, and she doesn’t want to have any part of it. She knows that she has to prove herself to you, so she is going to try.”

Derek thinks it over for a few minutes. This is going to be hard for him, to trust an Argent. After what Kate put him through, I wouldn’t hold it against him to never trust Allison, no matter how different she is from her dead aunt. “Okay. I want you to be her contact. Scott, know the two of you are dating, but official reports about their plans and anything that they are doing is to be told directly to Stiles.” Scott was going to protest, but he knows that it is for the best and just stays silent. “Make sure she knows that.”

He doesn’t say anything about trusting her, or letting her into the pack, but he does trust my judgment. Even if it takes a little bit for it to sink in. 

After that, the night devolves into a movie night and we all hang out while Erica starts the change. There is not pain past the initial bite, and even that starts to go away after a while. So we know that it took and that tomorrow when we wake up, there will be one more wolf added to the pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this took forever to update! I was just slacking and have no excuses for you. 
> 
> A thousand apologies. 
> 
> Hopefully this chapter was enough to make up for it!
> 
> As always, thank you for your support and please don't be afraid to let me know what you think!


	9. Second time, Second win, But Not How I Expected

The months after Gerard’s appearance in Beacon Hills don’t go smoothly for us at all. Boyd was turned the month following Erica, after the next full moon. Both of them have managed to find Anchors, thank Goddess. With the Hunters out for blood, we have been relegated to spending most of our time inside and unable to run like we would like. 

Erica and Boyd have taken this in stride and rarely lose themselves to instinct. The start of summer is a huge help to that. Mostly we hang out at my place or just around town in open, populated areas. Derek started volunteering at the Sherriff’s station and is getting better known by the community in general. They all fee bad for what he has gone through, losing most of his family, then his sister and uncle more recently. (After Peter’s death, it was just said that he went missing from the long term care facility along with his nurse.) Dad has kept up some of the patrols around his loft, but seeing as he spends most of his nights at our house with the other Betas, it isn’t too much of an issue anymore. 

Although, the Hunters aren’t making it easy for us by any means. Every time he or I go out, we are followed by some creeps. At first I thought they would see us doing everyday normal stuff and back off a bit, but they haven’t. They keep doing it, no matter where we go, the grocery store, movie theater, mall, everywhere. And it’s not like we can do anything about it either. If we try to scare them off, it could be seen as an attack and give them reason to shoot, if we go to the authorities they get a warning and back off for a little while, but most likely get replaced by people who will be less noticeable. At least this way, we know they are there.

Speaking of less noticeable, Allison has been doing a pretty good job of playing double agent. From what she has told us, her father is completely against what Gerard is doing, but there isn’t much he can do to stop him. Victoria, Ally’s mother, on the other hand, has all the authority to do just that. But it seems that isn’t enough to put the kibosh on it. Either that, or she agrees and is working with Gerard. Ally isn’t sure, and her mom is being pretty quiet about it all for now. I think that she is willing to let him do what he wants for now, but the second he steps out of line, she will put her foot down. Just too bad that it will be too late for us if that is what it takes. By then, one or all of us could be dead.

Everything is going rocky for the most part, but a severe spick pops up with Scott starts acting weird. Normally he is on edge because he still hasn’t stopped seeing Allison and he is worried that they will get caught, but this is different from that. He is acting skittish and jumps at little noises. Plus he hasn’t been around as much lately, choosing to spend more time at home with his mom. Not a bad thing, just not ’Scott’. So I decide to confront him about it. “Scott, what is going on with you? You’re kind of all over the place.”

His gaze drops from me down to his shoes. We are in his bedroom playing videogames like the good old days. “Nothing. Everything’s fine.” The blip in his heart doesn’t go unnoticed by either of us. 

“You do know that I can tell when you’re lying, right? Come on man, we don’t lie to each other.” He gives me a pointed look and I roll my eyes. “That doesn’t count and you know it.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Scott. This is obviously something major, the others have started noticing it too. We’re worried.” He still looks like he isn’t going to spill, time to bring out the big guns. “You know the point of having a pack is so that when you need help, there is someone there for you to help you. It’s a family, dude. So tell your brother your woes.” I try to keep it as light as possible in hopes that it is just Scott making mountains out of molehills.

“Gerard threatened my mother.” Or maybe not.

“He what!”

He gets a constipated face for a minute before continuing. “You know how I kind of disappeared after the last lacrosse game?”

“Yeah,” I nod my head. He was gone for a few hours, then turned up somewhat shaken. We all thought it was just left over nerves from the game. “I thought you just went to make out with Allison in the back of your mom’s car?”

“Well, I kind of got roped into going to dinner at her house. Gerard invited me and we couldn’t find a way to say no.”

“Scott! There are a million ways to say no! Should I start in Spanish? NO!”

“I know, I know! But it all happened so fast, that’s not the point though. Afterwards I had to pick my mom up from a shift at the hospital and as I got out of the car, Gerard stabbed me with a knife and said he knew what I was. He said that someday I would owe him a favor, or the knife would go into her. I can’t let that happen, Stiles, I can’t get my mom killed.”

I take a deep breath, knowing that Scott didn’t say anything out of fear, but still. “Okay, but you should have come to us. This is what we are here for Scott, we are best friends, you could have come to me.” It kinda hurts that he didn’t. Since Allison, he has talked to me less and less. 

“I know, Stiles, I know I should have, but I’m scared, okay? More scared that with all that shit with Peter. He never threatened her, just me.”

“Letting out a sigh I pull him into a hug. “Look, we are going to make sure that nothing happens to her, okay? When Gerard comes calling again, tell me and we will figure out a plan. I always have a plan.”

“Yeah, and they usually end up with me hurting in the end.” The lighter tone to his voice lets me know that he isn’t freaking out as much as before. That’s good. It means that he is taking what I said seriously. Derek won’t be happy to hear about this, but I don’t really see what we can do besides be extra vigilant.

…

After that we are on even higher alert. I wasn’t sure it was possible until it was, but it’s a good thing because that is when the murders start up again. At first dad is confused because we are the only wolf pack in the area, but they seem to be killings like the ones with Peter. Only this time it isn’t relegated to out of the way places. The first one happens in a parking lot in the middle of town, the second one is in the back lot of a club down in the warehouse district. Then to top things off, Lydia starts appearing where the murders happened. It starts with some of the ones Peter committed, but she was the one who called in the last one. When Dad got there, she was huddled against the wall, wrapped in a blanket from the paramedics. She says she doesn’t know how or why she ended up there, only that she was at hoe watching TV when she had the sudden craving for ice cream. Well she never made it to the grocery store.

I told dad and Derek what I am pretty at this point, what I think she is. Dad rolled his eyes and mumbled something about another supernatural creature. Derek looked thoughtful though. I’m not sure what he is thinking, but he said if she comes asking what is going on, that I have the okay to tell her about everything. 

Unfortunately that will have to put on hold for now as we have other things to worry about. Like the fact that after the bodies were moved and the police left the scenes, Derek and I went in to do our own investigation, and he scented out Omegas. Different ones at both crime scenes at that. When we followed their trail, it lead to an already cleaned up scene. If it weren’t for our shaper vision and Derek’s acute sense of smell, we would never have know that the wolves were killed just after doing their own killing. We told dad what was going on, but again like everything else, there isn’t much we can do besides keep the investigation going.

After the third person is killed in the comfort of her own home, and third Omega trail to sixth murder scene, Chris Argent comes knocking on my door. The whole pack is there, so Derek is immediately on edge. “Mr. Argent, to what do we owe the surprise?”

Dad walks up behind me, still dressed in his uniform having only just gotten done with his shift. “I wanted to talk to both the Sherriff and the Alpha about the murders.”

“If you’re here to place blame, we had nothing to do with the. We’ve been keeping our heads low as you well know. We haven’t had one day where one of you wasn’t sitting out there watching our every move. Besides, why would be be out killing random people, you know that’s not the way a pack works.” My voice keeps rising and it’s only dad’s hand on my shoulder that has me grounded enough to stop from creating some fox fire in my hands.

“I know that your pack aren’t the ones responsible. That’s what I would like to talk about.”

“Stiles, why don’t you go get your friends to go up to your room while we talk?” Dad is trying to dismiss me, and if he thinks that is going to work, then he is so far from wrong.

I walk back into the kitchen where the others are gathered. “You guys go up to my room. Isaac, seal the room off like you’ve been practicing, use the window for escape if you have to.” Since Erica and Boyd have been turned, Isaac wanted to feel more useful, so I lent him some of my mother’s books on what humans are capable of as a defense. He has learned how to make a mountain ash barrier and can identify most forms of wolfsbane and Letharia Vulpine. The latter is a poison that works against Kitsune as well as wolves.

“Stiles-” Derek starts, but I interrupt him. 

“Nope, I’m staying. I am your second and if he wants to talk to you then he can talk to me too.” The glare I give him must be enough for him to back down. No way am I leaving my dad and Alpha alone with a Hunter. No. Way.

Dad ushers Argent into the living room where Derek and I join him. Dad sits down in his chair, Argent perches on the edge of the couch, while Derek and I remain standing. I am just to his left and a step behind him. There is more to being a second than just helping out, I have been learning more of what is expected of me in this position, and there is a whole formal code to follow for situations just like this one.

“So, you said you have information on the murders? I would love to hear your explanation.” Dad sounds like he already knows what Argent is going to say, but I am not so sure.

“First of all, let me apologize for the way that my brethren have been acting. My wife doesn’t see anything wrong with their actions, even though you are all innocent of any transgressions. But now my father is going too far. Because there is no proof of what he is doing, there is nothing Victoria can do, but we all know that it’s him setting the Omegas loose on the town. We also know that it’s him killing them right after to make it appear that your pack sis the one to blame. The only thing that is stipping them so far from making a move against you sit that when an attack happens, the people tailing you are gone. I have stepped in and taken those positions only so that I may claim your innocence in the murders, but I don’t know how much longer my word is going to have meaning.”

Dad looks honestly confused. “Your wife won’t believe you?”

“It’s not a matter of belief, Sherriff, but a matter of proof, of the lack there of in this this case. There is no link to any Omega activity. The pack that lives here hasn’t been chasing any out, so there is no evidence of any being here in the first place. So that only leaves one option.”

“My Pack.” Derek has his arms crossed and back straight as if ready for a fight.

 

Argent sighs. “Yes. Contrary to popular belief, not all of us wish harm on you. I know that you have done nothing other than try and stop the previous Alpha, that you and your family lived here for generations without causing any problems. But my father is zealot, he wants to rid the world of all supernatural creatures.”

“And what about you? You hunt us too.” The words are out before I can stop them.

“I do hunt, yes, but only those whoa re killing innocents and causing harm to others. And then with undeniable proof. Peter Killed Kate, and now Gerard has been on a mission. There is nothing I can do to stop him.”

Why not turn to the law. If you have proof that he killed someone, then I could do something legally.” Dad is always trying to work within the law, too bad the supernatural has it’s own laws.

“I would, but he has many others on his side. They would turn on me in an instant. Loyal is to the highest bidder, I’m afraid.” The thing is, he is being honest. He isn’t happy with what is going on. 

“So what have you come here for then? If you can’t do anything, why put yourself in this position?” Dad is again honestly curious.

“Because my daughter shouldn’t have to go through this. We came here because we recognized the activity here that was started by the last Alpha. The plan was to leave after it was taken care of, but she wanted to stay and at least finish the school year. So we agreed. Then Gerard came, and he is pushing for more than what is allowed by the Code. I can’t stand idly by as everything I believe in is thrown away.” This is the man I though he was. Good that it is finally coming out. “I can’t stop him, but I have been in contact with some other families that feel the same as I do. They have said that if it comes down to it, Gerard will be taken care of internally. Unfortunately, there isn’t much they can do until he has taken severe action against you and your pack. I am here simply to warn you.”

“Thank you.” Dad stands to shake his hand. “I know that it can’t have been easy for you to go behind your family’s back to come to us. I will keep the investigation going for now, if you can think of any way to link it back to Gerard it would be much appreciated.” Argents shakes his hand, and then dad leads him to the front door. 

Derek slumps a bit after he is gone. He doesn’t say anything, but I know what he is thinking. There isn’t much we can do until it happens. Hopefully this time we won’t be caught so off guard. I hate this waiting around period, I hate not being able to do an damn thing.

…

This summer I started taking a summer course at the local collage so that I could be closer to Lydia in case she started acting weird again. At first she just ignored me, but then one day, she came and sat down next to me. “Allison told me why you are here.”

“Uh, what?” I am a bit too stunned to make a decent quip back.

“Allison told me that you only took this class so you could keep an eye on me. She didn’t say why, but I have a feeling this has something to do with why she is all of a sudden back into archery, and why Scott, Erica, and Boyd have gone through slight makeovers these past few months. Mind clueing me in so I’m not the only one oblivious? And don’t bother telling me you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m smarter than I look.”

“Never doubted that for a second. Actually, I was wondering how long it was going to take you to drop the stupid routine, it gets boring after a while, doesn’t it?”

“Just like how you aren’t as much of a spaz as you make yourself out to be? I’m not the only one holding back.”

“Touché.” The smirk that goes with it is actually genuine. Even though she’s kind of a bitch, she is in fact, pretty smart.

“So, are you going to tell me what is going on, and how I keep predicting deaths that are about to happen?”

“What do you know about Banshees?”

We end up skipping the class and sit in the quad talking. I don’t tell her everything, just what she is and what I am, also that there is a pack of werewolves in Beacon Hills. She is smart enough to know who I am talking about and that she shouldn’t tell anyone, especially after I tell her about the Argent family and how they don’t discriminate. She blanches a few times, like when I tell her that her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, I’m not really sure at this point, was asking for the bite himself, and how he was trying to blackmail Scott into getting it for him. Something tells me she will be having words with him for later about that.

She takes it all pretty well. It’s not until we are getting ready to leave that she starts acting weird. Her eyes glaze over and her body stills. “Lydia, what is it, what’s wrong?”

“I- I don’t know. I feel like I have to scream.” Shit, that means someone is going to die.

“Lydia, can you tell who it is?”

She shakes her head no, but doesn’t look so unsure. “I- I have to go. I’m sorry, I have to go.” She scrambles to her feet and races towards the parking lot. I am just about to follow her when a hand lands on my shoulder. 

“Ah, Mr. Stilinski. Just the person I was looking for.” I look up to see the face attached to the arm, but I already know who it is. I could never forget that voice.

‘Gerard.’ 

He’s the last thing I see before I am knocked unconscious by the butt of a gun. Again…

…

When I come to, the world is fuzzy and I can feel that there is something wrong. “It’s about time you came around. Thought I might have used too much.” Gerard is sitting in a chair across from me. I manage to focus enough to make out that I am in a basement and it’s dark outside. That means that the others should be looking for me. He must have used Letharia Vulpina on me. I’ve never suffered from it’s effects before, but this is what I am pretty sure it should feel like. 

“What do you want with me?” My is slurred and I may be half out of it, but I still have a job to do.

“Oh, I don’t want anything with you. But you make perfect bait for the Alpha. The only non-wolf and his second, no less.”

My head is too heavy to stay up so I end up with my chin on my chest, talking to the floor. “Your crazy daughter kidnapped me too. Now look where she is.” Probably not a good idea to poke at the crazy geriatric that has me captive, but my mouth tends to not to listen to my brain.

“Yes, that is one of the many reasons I took you.” His eyes are gleaming with rage and amusement. 

“You also know that the one responsible for her death is dead, right?” My head is starting to clear a bit more now, and I am able to organize my thoughts a bit better.

“I know that on mutt was put down, but there are a few more to go.”

“Why? I mean, I figured the crazy must run in the family, but even Kate had reasons.” All I can do is think back to some of her last words. “But you must have been the one to give the orders your oh so faithful daughter was following. You are the one who ordered the Hales dead for no other reason than existing.” It all clicks now. 

His smirk is answer enough, but like his daughter, the man likes to hear himself speak. “Yes, and I would do it again.” 

I still feel as if there is more to this though. “But there’s something else, isn’t there? Something else you want besides innocent blood spilled.”

“Derek chose well, making you his second.” He pauses to cough, and when he does, there is blood in his hand and his breathing is weaker. It takes me a minute to take in all the other symptoms and the almost sweet smell of decay to put it all together.

“You’re dying?” He doesn’t say anything, just takes a drink of water. Then it hits me. What it is he really wants out of all this. “You want the bite!”

His smile is crazed and demented. “Oh, I want much more than that.”

“You want the Alpha power.” I almost whisper the words.

“If I am doing this, I might as well go all the way. And I am doing this. Nothing is going to stop me now.”

“You want to become the monster that you hunt? How in any way does that make any kind of sense?”

“Having a death sentence does strange things to the mind. Plus, if I am one of them, it will make them easier to find.”

“You’ve done more than that though, haven’t you? You have a witch on your side, she helped you get this far.”

“You really are too bright, young man. It’s a shame I shall have to kill you.”

“Derek will never do it. Not even for me.” I know it’s a lie even before the words leave my lips. 

“Oh, that is exactly why he’ll do it. To spare your life, even though I’ll kill you and the rest of his pack after he’s dead.”

He gets up and shoves a needle into my arm, pushing something into my system. I can’t fight it and almost immediately, I am unconscious again.

…

The next time I am coming out of conciousness, I don’t open my eyes, I just let my senses tell me what is going on. There are no heartbeats around me, but there are multiple above me. I can’t hear any distinct conversation right now, but I allow myself to open my eyes. 

It is pitch dark outside, he must have given me a smaller dose than last time, and I can feel myself coming out of it faster. I am only tied up so it only takes a small ball of fox fire to burn through the ropes, but just as I sear through the last strand, I can tell someone is coming downstairs. I drop my head and hold fast to the rope behind me so as to not give myself away. 

When the person reaches the bottom stair, I can focus better on the heartbeat and recognize it. Chris Argent. “Stiles.” His voice is a whisper and is steadily coming closer. “Stiles, if you’re awake, I’m here to help you.”

I open my eyes and raise my gaze to meet him. “How are you going to help me? There is a room full of Hunters upstairs and the only way out I can see is through them.”

“They are about to leave on the next Omega drop. I’ve already warned your pack about it, so they can intercept it before it makes its kill.”

“This isn’t going to end. Nothing will stop him, he’s crazy. Did you know he wants the bite? That is why he is really doing all of this. Kate dying only gave him a perfect opportunity. He is going to kill Derek and take the Alpha power for himself. You will not only be dealing with a crazy Hunter, you will have a power crazed Alpha werewolf on your hands. Do you get how bad that is?”

“I know, I heard it all.”

“What?” I am completely confused. I know that I was the only one down here with Gerard when he was talking earlier. I was out of it, but not that out of it. 

“I set up a camera and microphone down here in case he was going to do some planning down here. It is one of the only secure rooms in the house. I have his confession recorded. There are many ways that we can edit out the more supernatural aspects and leave the parts where he just sounds like a crazy old man admitting to planning mass murder. I’ve also done some research on the victims that have been killed by the last three Omegas, they all have distant familial ties to the Hales and hold the possibility, if even remotely, of passing on the werewolf gene. Their connection even how remotely, will be enough to get him for those as well. Even if he is dying, no jury is just going to let him go for that.”

I am stunned into silence for a while, even forgetting myself and dropping the rope that once held me. “But how, with the others, they would side with him?”

“Not after I show them the footage where he admits to wanting the bite. That is not a fate that any sane Hunter would choose.” I actually believe that, not just because it is what they hunt, but mom said that she heard of a ritual where the Hunter will kill themselves before the next full moon so as to escape that certain fate. 

“Okay, but isn’t he out with the others?” I am standing now, and moving towards the stairs with Chris.

“No, all the excitement with you caused him to go into a larger coughing fit, and he had to remain behind. Your father should be here any minute with a whole squadron of officers to arrest him.” I am truly in shock. I never believed that a Hunter would go through what Chris has to ensure the safety of any supernatural creature, even if it was for different core reasons, the outcome remains the same. 

I hold my hand out to Chris, “I am sorry, I misjudged you. I hope that after this, we can move towards a truce between yourselves and my pack.” 

He takes my hand and shakes it firmly. “I can’t guarantee any promises, but I don’t think my wife will have too much choice in the matter. Especially not since Allison has firmly sided herself on your pack’s side. Of things.”

So I guess I missed a whole bunch of shit while I was napping by drugs. The sound of sirens outside and a knocking on the door has Chris and I moving up the stairs and to the living room where my father is waiting for me. Gerard is being taken away in handcuffs and being told his rights, but all that matters to me, is that this debacle is finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soooooooo sorry it took me so long to update. My computer is on the fritz and I can't use it anymore. This chapter is coming to you from my mom's computer! GAH!!!!!! I am going to try and update as best I can, but I don't know that I will be able to afford a new laptop until tax time, so the random posts may be a thing for a while. I hate being that author that doesn't update regularly, but I think it might happen. So, I am not giving up on this story, seeing as it has itself pretty plotted out, but I am not sure when in my schedule, I will have access to a computer. I will try my best and Hopefully you guys will stick with me through this shitty time!


	10. Making of a Treaty

After the officers have left with Gerard, dad shakes hands with Chris as Victoria looks on from the fireplace with a blank look on her face on. But I can hear her heartbeat and it is telling me that she is furious at the turn of events. I don’t know if it’s because she is mad about the pack getting away unharmed, Gerard’s arrest, or Allison’s defection. It’s probably a mixture of all three. I nod to Chris, then dad and I leave in his cruiser. We don’t talk until we are back home in the living room, where he promptly pulls me into a hug. “Thank God you’re okay.”

I hug him back just as tightly, “I am dad. I’m okay.” We sit down at the table and he tells me about what happened since I was captured. Apparently Lydia went to Allison right after I was taken, and she told her that it was Gerard. His actions forced Allison to confront her mother and father. Victoria refused to talk about the matter, but Chris was blatant about what was going on and the fact that I was unconscious downstairs. Allison, not being able to do anything grabbed some of her things and left as if she was going to stay with Lydia for the time being, but instead came here. 

Derek and the rest of the pack were here and dad says it took Isaac’s quick thinking to throw up a mountain ash barrier to keep the pack from storming the Argent house. I will have to remember to thank him later for that. They would all be dead now if they had done that. It wasn’t too long after that, that Chris called Allison and told her about Gerard’s confession and that enacted the plan. Derek and the pack would intercept the Omega and Hunters, while dad and some of his most trustworthy deputies would arrest Gerard. 

Now we are just waiting for the pack to come back. I want to go out and meet up with them, but the poison is still running through my system and I would be practically useless. Dad makes me some food and a large glass of water while we wait, but I don’t have much of an apatite. I am too worried about the pack to think about much else. 

…

It takes about an hour of waiting and slowly pacing the living room before I hear Derek’s car pulling up in front of the house. I am outside running to meet them before they engine even cuts out. Erica and Isaac are the first out and I have them in my arms crushing them against me as tightly as I can get them. Then Boyd and Scott are there and I am pulling them in too. Slowly I am listening to their hearts and checking them over for any injuries, but they all seem fine. Unscathed, actually. The last one out of the car is Derek, and as I look up away from the rest of the pack I notice that he is the one that has blood on his clothes and rips in his shirt. 

I am frozen in place. My heart is beating so fast I feel like it will jump out of my chest. My breathing is getting shallow and my vision is blacking out at the edges. 

Derek races forward and has me against his chest helping me to calm down before a panic attack starts. Wrapping my arms around his back, I grab on to his shirt and hold it tight. It only just hit me when I saw him hurt and healing from the cuts the Omega must have inflicted. I realized that Derek is more than just my Alpha, he is more than just a friend. He means so much more than that. Fuck. How did that happen? How did he get so close to me? 

I’ve done nothing but put up barriers my whole life. I never let anyone get too close, mostly because I knew that I would live an extraordinarily long time, and that I would have to move on before too long so as to not let on that I am not aging the same as everyone else. Scott was an oddity and exception. I started to make more friends, but they knew what I was, what I am. They know that even if we stayed together, that I would live far longer than they would. I could be myself for the first time in a long time. Since before mom died. 

But I never thought that I would fall in love. And holy shit! Am I in love with him? Am I in love with Derek? I mean he is, has been there this whole time. He has lost so much, and is still strong, is still standing, still fighting. One who was born to be a Beta, but was forced into Alpha-hood, and is doing far better than he ever thought he could. He is grouchy, and emotionally constipated, and amazing, and smart, and shit. I’m in deep. 

I don’t really know what happened, but now I am sitting on the couch with Derek’s arms still wrapped around me, and Isaac crouching in front of me staring up into my eyes. I can hear dad saying something about Gerard poisoning me and that it still might be affecting me, but I smile at Isaac and pull him into another hug. “Stiles?” Isaac’s voice is hesitant but he returns my hug nonetheless. 

“Thank you. You kept them from running to their deaths. Thank you.” He sighs in relief and tightens his embrace, I can feel Derek loosening his, and I have to reach one hand out to stop him. I’m still not sure that I can handle myself without him there. And now with my new revelation to myself I don’t want him to let go for completely different reasons. 

Finally I look up to the rest of the group and see that Allison and Lydia are here too. Allison has proven herself now, and if Derek hasn’t already asked her to join the pack, I know that it won’t be too much longer before he does. Lydia probably won’t have to work too much to get her own add in, but I’m not really sure how that will work. I mean I know that humans are part of a lot of packs, I am not normal, most Kitsune would never join one, I don’t know if a Banshee would be welcome or not. I can’t say that her abilities wouldn’t come in handy, cause they definitely would. Plus she is really smart and we could use that too. But for now, I am not going to think about that. I am just going to bask in the presence of my pack and let everything else just fade to background noise. I am safe, and we are not in danger for the moment. 

“It’s about time you settled down, Hotness Monster.” Erica is looking over my shoulder at Derek when she says this. I can’t help the laughter and eye roll that follows. She still hasn’t found the right name yet. Everyone has one at this point. Erica is Catwoman, I am Beast Boy, Scott is Wolf Boy, Boyd is Batman(For obvious reasons), and Isaac is Dr. Strange. That one came about because of all the magic stuff that he is starting to study. Allison even has Huntress tagged onto her. Dad is called pops by just about everyone, bar Derek, who still calls him sir, or John, when he remembers that is what dad told him to. But she can’t seem to find one for Derek. None of them really work. 

Derek just grunts at that and tightens his grip on me a bit. “Nope, that’s not it either.” Isaac speaks up from the floor in front of me. Everyone has settled down and Scott put in a movie, but I don’t really pay any attention to that. I am too focused on all their heartbeats. 

“It’s okay, I got you. You can let go now.” Derek’s words are whispered to my ear that even the wolves would have a hard time hearing them. But they seem to be the only permission my body needs to fall off into oblivion. The events of the day are finally catching up on me and I am ready for a good sleep. So that is exactly what I do. 

…

My dreams are scattered flashes of bright light and darkness that finally manifest in Peter standing over Derek’s dead body with the rest of the pack laying in pieces around us, then he transforms into Gerard and I know that this is only a dream. I was freed from the basement, and pack was alive. I saw them, I held them. That was real. But the image is strong, I can smell the already decomposing bodies of my friends, I can almost taste the blood that is everywhere, I can feel the numbness that comes from the Letharia Vulpina in my body. The only thing that is keeping me grounded right now is the sound of one heartbeat. Derek’s heartbeat. It is thundering in my ear, surrounding me, not letting me ignore it. 

“…Stiles… wake…” His voice is there, so I concentrate on it harder. “You’re safe, I got you. You have to wake up, Stiles. Come on, wake up.” blinking my eyes I am shifting from the gruesome scene of the dream to the piercing gaze of Derek’s green eyes filled with concern. “That’s it, you’re okay, you’re safe. I have you.”

Reaching out, I wrap my arms around his neck and he lets me pull him closer pressing our bodies together, taking comfort from the touch. Blocking out everything else in the room I hone in on his heartbeat and scent, letting it ground me to the present. Then I feel the others press in on us and my shoulders finally sag. 

The nightmares from Peter’s death never really went away, I was just better able to deal with them. Now with Gerard’s actions, I know that they are only going to come back full force. I feel like a freaking damsel in distress. I can’t control myself enough to let go of what happened, and with the panic attacks that I suffered from after mom died, this doesn’t make any of it easier. I hate my body and mind right now. They are betraying me and not letting me deal with this in a healthy way. Instead it makes me weak and dependant on others. I hate that. 

“Stop that. You are no weak.” I know I didn’t say any of that out loud, but Derek still seems to know what I am thinking. 

“You are strong Beast Boy. Don’t you dare think otherwise.” Erica says from my right.

Then Isaac speaks up. “You saved me when no one else even saw what was happening with me.” I can feel Boyd’s hand resting on my shoulder give me a little squeeze. 

“You are one of the smartest people I know, Stiles, but you are also one of the stupidest.” There is the sound of Scott getting hit, probably upside the head. “Hey, I only meant that he is too close to the situation sometimes and that makes it so he can’t see how awesome he is. Like, dude, the awesomeest.” I let out a small laugh. 

“Thanks guys.” I can’t seem to move from Derek’s chest, and he doesn’t seem like he minds all the much right now, so I just stay where I am. “I’m okay. Just a nightmare.”

Erica huffs as if she is annoyed at my assessment. “Well, duh, you had a nightmare, I mean this is only the second time you have been captured and tortured by a psychotic Hunter, the Second villain you have faced on your own, and the third that has tried to come after the pack. You are totally entitled to a break down or two, Beast Boy. Completely within your rights.” 

Chuckling lightly, I turn to face her, but not moving away from Derek’s chest. “You make me sound like a comic book hero.”

“Well you kinda are. You can turn into a fox, generate fire and lightning, hear things that no one else can, and run faster than everyone bar The Flash, so yeah, that kinda makes you a hero. Tell him Wolverine.” I laugh at another attempt at a nickname. So far everyone who has a nickname has come out of DC, this attempt at Marvel, while mostly fitting, still doesn’t quite work. Derek growls lowly at it just like all the others. “Damn, I really thought I had it that time.” 

We all laugh and relax back down to the floor where we apparently have joined together in a large puppy pile. Can’t really find it in me to complain that I have a perfectly good bed upstairs that I could be sleeping in. It takes a bit, but slowly the others all start drifting back to sleep leaving me and Derek as the only ones left awake. “It’s okay, you can go back to sleep. I’ll stay up and make sure that you don’t fall into another nightmare.”

“You have to sleep too.” I yawn quietly as I close my eyes and snuggle back into Derek’s chest, resting one ear over his heart so that I have clear access to it. 

His hand traces up and down my back soothing me back down. “I will. But for now, rest knowing that you are all safe.”

“Okay, Sourwolf. Just make sure you rest too. You don’t have to alpha all the time.” My speech is slurred somewhat with my tiredness, but I am warm and comfortable and I can’t find it the want to do anything more than fall asleep again. I’m pretty sure Derek says something else, but the fog has rolled back in and I am lost in the rough timber of his voice. 

…

 

In the morning after everyone has woken up and eaten, my dad says that we have to go down to the station so that I can give my official statement of what happened last night. Normally that would have happened right after I was rescued but dad was able to pull a few strings so that I could do it today instead. This was mostly so I knew what to say with the edited video that Chris supplied the authorities with. Also so Derek could come with me. He is still in Alpha protective mode, and I can’t find it in me to complain. 

Pretty much going with a crazy fanatic that was prosecuting the Hale family for their religious beliefs. It is a thin line to walk, but Derek did say that his family were Pagans for what it meant. He still is, although non-practicing at the moment. 

I was taken because of the new closeness that Derek shared with me and my father. I was bait. Which is true. It is always best to keep it as close to the truth as possible. Gerard went after the Hales for who they were. Simplifying it, but not making it any less than what it is. 

Talking about what happened isn’t all that difficult. Not in the sense that I am able to process everything and spit out verbatim what he said and what occurred. But once I am done, all I want is to go back home and hide away from the rest of the world for a while. Again, not something I can really do right now. With everything that happened, it is important that we get things moving towards and alliance, or at least a truce of some kind with the local Hunters. I am so sick of dealing with their bullshit, but a few more times and I should be able to put most of it behind me. 

When we get back to the house, everyone is still there. Or they left and came back before we did. They are all crowded up in the living room again, even Lydia is here. I am somewhat surprised, but happy nonetheless that she feels comfortable or at the very least, safe, here. “Allison. Thank you for what you did last night. I know that it had to have been hard for you to go so openly against your family.”

“No, it really wasn’t. They weren’t following the code they spoke so highly of. If they had, you would never have been taken like that. My father seems to be the only one with a stable head on his shoulders. So until they get their heads out of their asses, I’m no going back.” She looks over to Lydia, who nods in return. I still feel bad that I am the reason for the strain that is going on in the Argent family right now, but at the same time, I know that this was going to come to a head with or without me. Allison is too strong minded for it. She will make a great leader for them on day.

“Still, I want to be able to make peace. I know that it is going to take a lot of work, and that it won’t be easy by any means, but Chris did seem open to it. I think between you and him, you can convince your mother that this is what is best for Beacon Hills and every one who lives here. Do you think you could set something up for us?” She looks a bit surprised but nods her head and moves outside to make a call. Sensing Derek behind me I turn to see a thoughtful, yet dark, look on his face. “You okay with this? I know it’s not something that either side wants to do, but we can’t keep going like we have been. It isn’t safe for anyone.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m just… I don’t…”

He is getting a bit tongue tied. “Come on big guy, use your words.” I quirk a small smile and hope that it is enough to lighten the mood a bit.

All I get is an eye roll before he starts talking again. “I don’t think you should be there. Not because I don’t want you to be, but because you are still not back to full strength yet, and I don’t want you anywhere near them.”

“I get that, but at the same time, we can’t show any weakness to them. We need to show a united front and not back down. You should do most of the talking, but I want to be there just in case you need some back up. Allison and Erica should also come. Allison as a human/Hunter part of our pack, and Erica because she is bad ass and the second fastest wolf. If something goes down, then the four of us should be able to handle it. But I really don’t think it will come to that. Chris seemed pretty much all for a cease fire. Losing Allison to us, is a major blow for them, not one that they are going to let go of easily. But I also know Ally, and she isn’t going to back down either. They owe you more than what they can afford, and it’s time to collect on those debts.”

His eyebrows furrow even further and crosses his arms in front of his chest like he isn’t going budge. Unfortunately for him, no one can out stubborn a Stilinski. “Fine, but at the first sign of danger, you are running straight back here.” 

“Can do, Sourwolf.” He sits down heavily in the armchair to watch whatever movie the pack as on now, but I notice that Lydia is missing from the room. Perking up my ears I track her heartbeat to the kitchen and walk in to find her leaning against the sink with a glass in her hand as if she was about to get a drink of water, but stopped before she turned on the tap. I approach her letting her know I’m there, but she seems to be lost in whatever vision that has overtaken her. “Lydia?” Laying a hand on her shoulder seems to be enough to bring her out of the trance she was in. “Still getting used to your powers I take it?”

The glare she sends, tells me she isn’t amused. “It’s not something I can just turn on and off like you guys. Also, werewolves, Stiles, really? You couldn’t have warned me?”

“Well I did dump a lot of information on you all at once. I was going to let that settle in before I told you about the pack. I just didn’t expect you to predict a death so soon afterwards, then freak out, and leave. Before I could follow you, Gerard was there.”

She steps away from the sink and looks down at her shoes. Not a position you see Lydia Martin in everyday. “Sorry. It took me by surprise.”

“Who’s death was it anyway? You seemed pretty freaked.”

This time when she speaks, her eyes meet mine. “Yours.”

“…oh…”

“Yeah, imagine what it must be like to know the guy standing in front of you, who just told you that all the things that have been happening to you are because you are some supernatural creature that can predict death, is going to die or rotationally going to die within the next few hours. How does any sane person react.”

“Run away and hide, then tell my best friend, and oh, yeah, I can see what you mean.” That is pretty much what she did. There is no way that I can blame her for the way she reacted. She actually took it a lot better than Scott did. He was in denial for a few days before it stuck. She still looks pretty nervous and her heart si beating just a tad bit faster than what is normal. I know that Derek wouldn’t turn her away, so I do the only sane thing. “Look, I don’t know much about Banshee’s aside from the lore and whatever is in my mom’s books, but you are more than welcome to be a part of the pack while you get the hang of all your newfound powers. You already seem to be a bit more comfortable here, but it is totally up to you.”

Her heart slows and a more thoughtful look crosses her face. “I’ll think about it.”

I nod and make my way back to the living room to sit on the arm of Derek’s chair. “Adopting more strays?”

“Like you weren’t going to do the same thing.” He scoffs but doesn’t deny it. 

…

It takes about an hour of Allison conferring with her parents before we are all ready to actually meet. The place we are meeting is an abandoned train depot in the run down warehouse district. A neutral ground for both parties. Of course Derek though, has been around that area before when he was looking for potential hidey holes to crawl into before I made him come back to the Stilinski household. So he will know how to get out and around quickly should the need arise. 

Dad insisted on coming too as a representative of the local law enforcement. For obvious reasons, the rest of the department won’t know about what is going down tonight, but I think it was just his way of being involved without stepping on anyone’s toes. He knows he has a place in the pack, but at the same time, he has the rest of the town to look out for, while Derek is more concerned with the pack, and the Argents with the Hunters. 

As per our agreement, Derek, Allison, Erica, and I are standing with our backs to the shambled rail car. Derek in front, me at his right and a step back, and Allison and Erica flanking us. Victoria, Chris, and two other Hunters walk down the stairs in a similar pattern with Victoria at point, with Chris in the second’s position. Dad is standing off to the side, making our entry a three way discussion. He is also holding a legal pad and pen so that he can take down actual notes and make semi-official truce papers for each of us to sign and keep. His idea and not a bad one at that. 

Victoria curtly nods her head, “Derek.”

Derek returns the gesture. “Victoria.”

“Lets talk.” Victoria is brusque with her words and there is a lot of arguing that never turns into shouting. In fact, they are both so in control that they are almost whispering the words. It takes quite a bit of time, a few hours in fact, to get all of the points down and finalized. 

Werewolf matters are to be handled by the pack first unless the others are asked for help. (I.E. Omegas, rouges, and inter-pack issues)  
Hale lands are off limits to the Hunters unless invited (This includes the Loft and any of the pack’s homes)  
Warning is to be given when outside Hunters are coming to town. Also when they hear word of any rouges or Omegas approaching the territory. This goes both ways.  
Allison is allowed to join the pack and will act as intermediary between the pack and the Hunters  
Derek is allowed to turn and accept others in the pack as long as they are aware of the risks and are of sound mind.  
Monthly or bi-monthly meetings will be held in the train depot to keep each other updated on minor issues and other going ons of Beacon Hills.

All in all, a pretty sound agreement. Dad quickly makes three copies to which Derek, Victoria, and Dad all sign. Derek did a pretty amazing job. He is the one that pushed for Allison to act as intermediary and he hastily accepted. I didn’t have to remind him of any of the things we talked about before we got here. He acts like being the Alpha doesn’t suit him, but he really showed how well he can handle himself under pressure. Dad was the one who came up the monthly meetings, and again, it was a pretty great idea. 

“Now that we have that done, I have some information for you as per our agreement. Through our contacts we have heard that there is a pack making it’s way here from across the country. A pack of Alphas. We don’t know what they want, only that they are set for Beacon Hills. There are four males and one female. We will keep you informed if we hear any more on the situation.” With those last words, Victoria turns and the others follow her out of the building. 

“Well shit.”

…

We talk on the way back to my house about this new information, and decide that we will start running territory checks so that we are aware of any new supernatural creatures crossing our boundaries. When the rest of the pack hear how things went and the new information, Isaac says that he can set up protection wards on our houses and the loft so that we have that one extra layer even if it is small. 

“But how can there be a pack of Alphas? I mean, I thought that there could only be on in a pack.”

“A pack can have many Alphas in it, Scott, but only one can lead. The others would have to be willing to submit to them. It doesn’t happen often because it is part of the Alpha instinct to be the one in control, the authority figure. Five Alphas in one back without any Betas is all but unheard of. There were talks a few years ago of this happening, but Laura just put it to rumor. I guess they were true.”

Derek doesn’t often talk about Laura or his family, so it is kind of surprising when he does, but no one makes a big deal out of it and we continue the conversations about how to deal with this new potential threat. It seems like after we deal with one problem, another pops up in it’s place. 

It is almost midnight by the time everyone settles down again and most of the pack is still camped out in the living room. Not having showered for the last few days, I took a long hot one and let the steam seep into my skin. After I come out I go to join the others when I hear Erica and Derek talking on the front porch. 

“I don’t understand why you don’t just tell them how you feel. You know they feel the same way, right? Right? I mean, every time you two are around each other, the sexual tension is off the charts. Just do something about it already, Mr. Darcy.”

“No, Erica. You know why I can’t. It would make them a target. I won’t do that.”

“But Derek you-”

“Enough.” It comes out harsh, but then he softens his voice. “I don’t want to talk about this again. Alright?”

“Fine, I’m just tired of seeing you pout about it. I just want you to be happy. You deserve that much.” Their footsteps are coming back inside, so I lay down and make like I was already sleeping. Derek likes someone, potentially loves them. It’s not like I thought I stood a chance anyway, but there goes any hope out the window. Guess I will just have to pine from up close and hope I can get over whatever this is. Crush isn’t enough, but love isn’t quite there either. 

Erica settles on one side of me and Derek on the other. I will probably have more nightmares tonight, but knowing that I am safe for the moment, and surrounding by the people I care about most, is enough to let me fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, it took me a month to get this up, but I wrapped up a few things, and got the ball rolling for 'season 3'! 
> 
> I wanted to make Allison a stronger character than she is made out to be in the show. At least in the beginning. I like her character and wish that we got more interactions between her and Stiles. Unfortunately this story doesn't really lend towards that friendship as much, but she still switched sided with the acts against Stiles being the final straw. 
> 
> Also I love Erica and her nicknames thing. I don't really know what sparked it in this story, but I am diggin it. Any guesses as to what his final name will be? I know, but you will have to wait to find out. 
> 
> Next chapter will bring in Cora, and the Alphas. Hopefully I will be able to get it to you sooner than a month, but I am still limited by my computer access. I was prompted (which I don't normally do) for a story and I am working that one out in my head while I plan and plot this one further while I don't have the necessary technology. Can't wait to get that one going!
> 
> Thank you so much for you support! I can't tell you what it means to me to have such faithful readers as you guys!!!!


	11. Finding What was Lost

The end of summer comes before we know it. After the Argent’s warning about the incoming Alpha pack, Derek and I decided that we needed to set up a patrol around the town so that we can better judge when they will enter our territory. We still don’t know what we are going to do about them yet, but first we have to know what they want. From the reputation that we have heard, they don’t seem to be the come in peace types. 

Gerard’s trial goes just how we wanted. He got a life sentence in a prison hospital. They say that with the advanced stages of cancer, he won’t make it to the end of next year. There is almost a sweet sense of justice to it though. The big, bad Hunter being taken out by disease and not in a fight. I’m happy with it, but the other Hunters aren’t. Although we have made a truce with the local ones, they are still out in full force. It’s almost like they are waiting for us to slip up and step even one proverbial toe out of line. 

Then as if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been sensing something else, some other kind of force, or power coming towards us. It is freaky strong, so strong that the animals are lashing out. Scott said that there have been more and more reports of pets attacking their owners, then there is the deer that crashed through Lydia’s windshield last week. There were 247,000 deer collisions with vehicles last year, I did some research, but hers is the only one that came at the car head on. Derek and the Betas can’t feel it, but it’s almost like my foxy senses are tingling. 

It all comes to a head on the first day of school in English class. The new teacher, Miss Blake, started talking about the first book we were going to read. From the minute she walked in the door, I could tell that there was something different about her, but that tells me nothing. There are many supernatural creatures living in Beacon hills. More than I can count actually, but they all seem to keep a low profile and know how to keep their auras and scents covered. No one goes around broadcasting it. But Miss Blake seems to do just the opposite. 

The point is though that while we are supposed to be reading the new book, a crow flies into the window. Then there are a whole flock of them. Scott, Allison, Lydia, and Erica are the other pack members that are in this class, so we all huddle together as they start breaking through the windows, Scott, Erica, and I cover the two girls to help them avoid any major scratches, but we all get hit by the time it’s over. 

Dad shows up along with Allison’s parents. I’ve already told all of them about the power that has finally gotten here. We think this might be like when animals lose it right before an earthquake or other natural disaster, it’s like they can sense it before it strikes. Whatever this is that is headed our way, it’s bad news and that is just the cherry on the cake. Powerful forces and an Alpha pack on our doorstep, I think the world is just screwing with us now. 

…

Scott says something about asking Deaton if he has any ideas about what is going on, and it takes all I have not to scoff and roll my eyes. After he leaves, Erica asks me what that non-reaction, reaction was about. “It’s just that Deaton was supposedly an Emissary to Derek’s mom, right? I mean, Derek didn’t know, but that’s because he was kept out of regular pack business and was just set up to train to be Laura’s second. So if Deaton knew about the Alpha, knew that Derek was back in town, and that Scott was now a werewolf, why didn’t he help us out? I mean, obviously he didn’t join another pack or anything, so why wouldn’t he help out the son of the Alpha he once worked with. It just doesn’t sit right with me is all.”

“I don’t know, Beast Boy, why don’t we go ask him?” Her grin is a bit too feral, and I know what she is thinking, but I don’t really want to hurt him. Not much anyway.

I sigh and shake my head. “No, he isn’t worth the energy. Plus we have Isaac, he is the pack’s emissary and he is doing a good job of it. Going to Deaton just shows that we care, and Scott is the only one who really does. So whatever.”

She doesn’t fight me on it, just goes back to watching TV while we wait for Boyd and Derek to come back from their patrol. It isn’t quite as simple as I said it was, but I don’t trust the man, so I think we should just steer clear of him. 

When the Derek and Boyd get back, they tell us that they didn’t find anything and that we should all head home. 

I ran here, so I figured that I would do a quick run through of the town just to see if I can pick up on anything that they missed. Their noses may be better, but my hearing far surpasses theirs. Scents can be masked, noises, not so much. Plus if these guys are as powerful as they have been made out to be, then I think that they are likely to slip up somewhere because they think they are superior to other lesser beings. 

I stash my clothes in the box that Derek has put at the back of the building, and shift so I can run faster and more undetectable. The city is stockpiled with empty buildings and warehouses from the economic decline of the last few years. Lots of places to hide out and keep out of the public eye. 

It’s as I am making a sweep of that area, that I get the sound of voices. It’s faint, but since this part of town is abandoned, there shouldn’t be anyone there. It could just be a few kids that are trying to find a new place to party, but then there are better places than this to do it in. I circle closer and find myself at the front of the old bank that was shut down after it was robbed a few years back. Its in better condition than most of the surrounding buildings, but still pretty decrepit. Not wanting to go inside just yet, I leap up to the fire escape and start climbing until I am able to better hear the voices coming from inside. There are four males and one female, just like Argent warned us. 

“We have the girl, why don’t we just tell him so that we can get this started? Why are we waiting around?”

“Ennis, I’ve told you already, this isn’t something that can be done quickly. Derek doesn’t thirst for the power like you did. If we want him to join the pack, we have to be a bit more…creative.”

A different voice speaks up than the first, “But we have his sister, why wouldn’t he do something to get her back?”

“Yeah, I mean, he thought she was dead, he’d do anything to get her back, right?” The fourth voice is similar to the third, twins maybe? Didn’t we just have a set of twins enroll this year? I swear I heard Lydia talking about them. 

“He will, but alerting him to so early to her presence will only send him here to her rescue. That won’t do for what I have in mind for him, now does it?”

“Why can’t we just kill him? That would be easier and a bit more fun.” That was the female. God, do they all just want blood and death? Seriously, who do these people think they are?

I don’t linger any longer than that though. They apparently have one of Derek’s sisters, one that survived the fire. Cora, I think, maybe? We need to make a plan to get her out of there and away from the crazies. Derek will have blood family again. That will mean so much to him. 

I want to get her out tonight, but I know that it wont be possible, so instead I go home. When I get there, dad is still up at the table looking through some paper work. I run upstairs and change into some clothes them come back down. “What do you know about that bank downtown that got robbed? Do you still have the files and blueprints of the place?”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “Uh, yeah, why do you need them?” 

“I found where the Alphas are camping out, and I overheard them talking. They said that they have Derek’s sister, and that they have plans for her. I don’t know what they are, but now we know they aren’t here for anything good. They were talking about killing Derek, and we need to get her out. But if I don’t come to Derek with a plan first, then he is going to charge in and get himself killed.”

“Okay, okay. I can get you the blueprints tomorrow. This means you’re skipping school, doesn’t it.” He says it like a statement, not a question.

“I would never do anything of the sort, pops.” I say as I am nodding my head yes.

“Fine, but I don’t want you guys to make a habit of this.” 

“Duly noted.” 

“Now, go tell Isaac, I was wondering why you didn’t come home together.”

Nodding, I make my way past him and up the stairs. Isaac was listening the whole time so I know he already knows what I am up to. “I’m staying to help you too.”

“Actually, I need you to go to school tomorrow.”

“What? Why?” He says this more questioningly than accusing. 

“You know those twins that started yesterday, yeah, they’re two of the Alphas.”

His face goes a bit pale at that. “What?”

“Isaac, what did they do?”

“N-nothing, I mean, the two of them were kind of flirting with me and Danny, but nothing serious.”

I sigh, but it isn’t one of relief. “They are probably trying to get inside the pack. See which humans are more involved and which ones they can pick off. I need you to find a way to keep them away from you and Danny. Danny’s smart, but he doesn’t know about all this, and it should stay that way.”

Isaac looks sort of guilty, and his heart rate goes up, “Uh, he’s not as in the dark as you might think.”

“What do you mean?” I think I already know the answer, but I was hoping that he wouldn’t have to get involved in all of this.

“Um, I think Jackson told him something because he started asking me questions over the summer at our lacrosse practices. I mean it wasn’t anything specific or blatantly about the supernatural stuff that has been going on, but he wasn’t quite evasive enough for me to not notice. I don’t think he knows everything, but he knows something.”

“Great,” Running my hands down my face, “well, then just warn him that these guys are bad news and he needs to steer clear. I’ll have to talk to Derek after we save his sister about bringing Jackson and possibly Danny into the pack. But for now, we have bigger fish to fry.” 

…

The next day after dad brings me the files from the bank I start going over a plan to get Cora out without the Alphas catching on. While I am going over the blueprints and reviewing how the burglar got in, dad calls me. He says that Heather, a friend of mine from preschool, went missing at her birthday party last night. I haven’t talked to her in years now, but she was still a close friend once and it hurts to know that she may be dead. 

The only thing that gets me is that this doesn’t feel like it’s connected to the Alphas. I mean, yeah, I know her, but how would they know that. They don’t seem to be the type to recruit members, seeing as they are all Alphas, so what does her disappearance mean?

After that I call Derek and tell him to call a pack meeting at my place after school. We need to get this going tonight, especially because it’s a full moon. I also text Allison to see if her and her dad can come. We need a distraction for the Alphas if they’re at the bank, and who better than a few dozen Hunters. 

It takes me a little while to figure out the plan, but once I have it, I am fairly certain it’s a solid one. 

Everyone shows up right after school and I dive right in. “Okay, so when I was out patrolling last night-”

“-You were out by yourself? Stiles! I told you not to do that.” Derek interrupts with his eyebrows flaring all over the place. Once that would have amused me, now I just think it’s cute. And not the time, so not the time. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I have super hearing and I found where they are at. You all know the old Beacon Hills bank? Well they are holed up there, or at least that is where they have their prisoner.”

“Who do they have? We’re all here?” Erica looks around questioningly. 

“That I do not know. Only that they said it was Derek’s sister.” I put my gaze on him and let him soak in the words. 

“My, what? Laura died. Peter killed her.”

“I know, I know, but they weren’t lying when they said it, so they really do believe that it is her. Didn’t you have a younger sister, Cora?” My voice is low and gentle. “Maybe she escaped the fire somehow, I’m not really sure. All I know is that if there is a possibility of you having some family still, we should try to save them.” 

Everyone nods. “So what’s the plan?” Allison asks pulling us back on topic. 

“The bank was closed after it was robbed. Dad was on the case and pulled the files for me today. We can‘t just go storming in the front door, they would slaughter us, and considering they have a prisoner, we can rule out anything friendly from them.” I point out to the blueprints that are scattered over the table in front of us. “This is how they got in. It’s a rooftop air conditioning vent. It leads down inside into the wall of the vault, which is here. Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into the shaft. The space is so small, it took him about twelve hours to drill into the wall, which is stone, by the way. You don’t really care about the rest, and it isn’t relevant. What matters is, that can be our way in and out. They resealed the wall, but that is easy too. They would be keeping the vault closed, so we can get in and out and they would be none the wiser.”

Scott looks wary. “And how are we supposed to get through a stone wall that took twelve hours by drill to get through?”

“Easy, Derek is strong enough with all his Alpha mojo to just punch through it, right?” I look to him a bit uncertain. I’m not a werewolf, but I’m pretty sure that he is powerful enough to do this.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get through the wall.”

“Okay, now the only thing we have to worry about is the Alphas. We can’t exactly let them know that we are there. We are nowhere near prepared to go up against them.”

“I assume that is why we are here.” Chris speaks for the first time since arriving.

“Now, Mr. Argent, you know what they say about assuming, but, uh, yeah, pretty much. We don’t need you to kill them, just… distracted for a little bit. Maybe draw them away? I’m not sure, it’s really up to you guys. I mean if you feel up to killing five Alphas, go ahead, they seem like bad news, do your worst, or best. You know what I mean.”

Allison exchanges a look with her father. “We don’t have the firepower to take them out, but we can distract them. Most of the Hunters that followed us left after Gerard’s failed plan, and our newly formed alliance. They don’t agree with our new code.”

“New code?”

“To protect those who cannot protect themselves. I think it fits better to what Hunters over all should do. There has been too much unnecessary death.”

“I agree Allison, too bad there will probably be more before this is done. Now I was thinking that Derek, Boyd, Allison and I should go down to the vault. We might need a human to break a mountain ash barrier. All packs have emissaries, and I am sure the Alphas wouldn’t be without one as well. Isaac, I want you here to be on guard just in case. Stay in the basement, you’ll be safe there. Scott, and Erica, I want you outside ready to help us or the Hunters, just don’t get caught in any crossfire. Everybody know what they’re doing?” They all nod. “Good. How long will it take you to get your men organized?”

“We can be at the bank in thirty minutes.” Chris checks his watch and sends out a text on his phone. 

“Good. That will give us enough time to move into place. Lets move it people. Time’s awastin’.”

…

It takes us about twenty minutes to get to the bank and we have to wait another fifteen for the Hunters to draw the Alphas out. Derek goes down the shaft first and I am right behind him. As soon as he breaks through the wall, my phone starts going off. Derek starts to walk into the vault and calling out to who we think is Cora. “Isaac, what is it?”

“You guys should probably get out of there. I read through the papers more, and the walls of the vault are made out of a mineral called hecatolite, it scatters the moonlight. If she’s been in there for months like we think she might have, she wouldn’t have felt the full moon in months. She would be feral.” Boyd and I step into the room while I am on the phone, Allison is still on her way down the shaft. 

“Derek, we have a big problem.”

“Derek, get out. Get out now.” That is the female’s voice. Then before we can do anything, the vault opens, and Ms. Morrell, the guidance counselor at school, drops a hand full of mountain ash to finish a line that encompasses the room. Shit. 

“Cora, it’s okay, we’re here to get you out.” But she doesn’t seem to be coherent anymore. She rushes Derek, and Boyd intercepts her, but even after Derek joins the fight they can’t hold her back.

Hanging up with Isaac, I call out for Allison. “Ally, you gotta break this ash barrier. We can’t hold her. She’s too strong.” Just as Cora throws Boyd against a wall and Derek across the vault, I feel the power break and throw a ball of fox fire at her to distract her from the others. It’s enough to get her to run out the now open vault door. We all chase her out and start running after her. 

Scott and Erica meet up with us and we all follow suit. Allison gets a call and yells that she has to go help Lydia. We should be able to handle this without her now, and whatever happened to Lydia will have to be solved with out us. 

“We have to get her into the preserve. She won’t hurt anyone there and we can wait out the moon. We should be able to corral her between the six of us.” Derek nods, so I put on a burst of speed so I can catch up with her. Even moon starved, she isn’t able to out pace me. With some carefully placed shot of fox fire, I am able to guide her away from the civilized parts of town and into the tree line. By the time the others catch up I am pushing toward a clearing that Derek and I use when we go on our runs in our animal forms. 

Cora is nothing if a fighter, it takes hours for her to stop trying to fight her way out of the loose circle we have her in. But eventually dawn comes and she slumps from exhaustion. I’m not far behind her. Unlike the wolves, I didn’t have the moon power up they did. 

Derek approaches her carefully and picks her up cradling her close to his chest. “She’s really alive. I can’t believe she’s really alive.” My heart is breaking a little watching him hold her. I’m not the only one with tears threatening to fall. Erica is right there with me. 

We all start walking back to my house when I get a call from Isaac. “Hey dude. We got her! She’s safe and we’re all unharmed. For the most part anyway.”

“Good, that’s good.”

“You don’t sound quite as happy though, what’s up.”

“Lydia called Allison and I, she found a body.”

“What? Cora didn’t get anyone.”

“I know, I know. It wasn’t a werewolf killing.”

“Okay, then what?”

“It was a three fold death. Ritual sacrifice. Mellissa called after the body was taken to the morgue, there was another body, a girl. She had the same three injuries. Your dad also called me and said that they had a missing girl. They haven’t found her yet, but I’m thinking when they do, she will be dead, and have the same three injuries. The guy had on a purity ring, and the missing girl is a virgin. I think that it is a series of kills. I’m not sure about the second girl, but if this is what I think it is, it is only the beginning.” 

I look around at the others who were all listening in on the conversation. “I’ve been feeling that power coming through, I guess this is only the start of whatever it is they are doing here. Get home, we’ll be there soon.”

“Will do. And be safe.”

“You too.” I hang up and we continue walking in silence. Cora’s return has been slightly diminished by this news, but not completely ruined. Derek has blood family again, and Cora didn’t hurt anyone. 

As we continue walking I notice that there are fireflies buzzing round. But the odd thing is, they are lighting up. The once in California aren’t bio-luminescent. They shouldn’t glow. It has to be connected to what ever this source of power is doing. With three kills under their belt, it won’t take long for them to surpass Peter in his reign of terror. Hopefully we can stop them along with the Alpha pack before anything gets any more out of hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been over a month! I still don't have a reliable computer, and I got a full time Job!!!!!! Awesome for my pocket, sucky for my free time to write. I am going to finish this story if it kills me though. I know how it ends and most of the inbetween parts, so I will continue to update as I am able. I Hope you guys are still with me and haven't given up. Please let me know what you think. I know this chapter is short and not really all that different from what happens in the show, but this 'season' is going to have some major differences so bear with me please!
> 
> Thank you for all your support! I can't tell you how much it means to me.


	12. Of Sacrifice and Gain

Cora's addition to the pack doesn't go as smoothly as everyone else's. But that is completely understandable. She was captured by the alpha pack and held prisoner and then made feral and set loose on her own brother in hopes that he would kill her. The thing that gets me though is that she won't talk with Derek about anything. You'd expect that after thinking your brother was dead for almost seven years you would want to tell him about your life or at least learn about his. From the little Derek has said, she barely speaks at all and when she does it's tense. From the way she acts it's almost like she doesn't trust him. I mean I kind of get that, but on the other hand if I found out my mom was still alive when I thought she was dead, I would yell at her and then hug her and never let her go. She is also staying pretty distant from the rest of the pack. Erica and her used to be friends before the fire, but still nothing. 

Unfourtunatly there is more going on here than just dealing with a resentful family reunion. After our rescue, the Alphas have become more aggressive. They have come after us more than once. The twins are a constant form of torture at school. They bully the Betas but all of it is done under the radar of everyone baring those with enhanced hearing. I have had to both stop and be stopped by the Betas on more than one occasion. 

The other Alphas even went so far as to attack Derek while the rest of us were in school. By the time we made it to him, it was too late to do more than help him and Cora heal their wounds. Did I mention that Derek took a pipe through the chest? Yeah that happened. Apparently there was even a light show to go along with Deucalion's little speech. There was lightning and a boom voice, like who does Deucalion think he is?

 

Lydia called not too soon after we all got here, so I sent the other Betas and Isaac to help her out while I talk to Derek. Cora refused to leave though. So she is currently upstairs in her room doing goddess knows what. "What did they want?"

Derek is standing in front of his window looking out at the storm that is brewing up. "Deucalion wants me to join his pack."

"Okay, and you told him no. Obviously he isn't taking rejection well."

"Stiles."

"What, Derek? What aren't you telling me?"

"To join the Alpha pack, Derek would have to kill his Betas first." Cora descends the stairs wet. She must have been up on the roof. "Of course Derek told them fuck off and now he is going to put on a timeline. If he hasn't killed one of us by the next full moon, then they are going to help the process out a bit."

"So now you're being sociable?" She growls and I flash my eyes back at her. "I realize what you went through was horrible. Believe me, if there is anyone in this pack who knows what it's like to be held captive, it's me. But you shouldn't shut yourself off from those that are trying to help you."

"Well excuse me if I came back after hearing that a strong Hale Alpha had returned and was making a pack. One that has stood up to a feral Alpha, and one of the most feared Hunter families, only to find that it is just a bunch of teenagers being lead by someone who was only meant to be a second. One who doesn't have a clue as to what he is doing or what he has gotten himself into." Her reply starts quietly, but steadily gains in volume until she is yelling. Derek flinches at almost every word that comes out of her and I can't quite help the ball of electrical fox fire that slams into her chest. 

Derek turns abruptly at the cackle and thud of Cora hitting the floor, and is then at her side in an instant. "Don't you dare. I'm sorry you are disappointed. That this wasn't what you wanted to come back to. But Derek has been doing everything he can. His set of circumstances haven't been the best, but he has thrived. Now it's either time for you to grow up and accept what is standing right in front of you, literally, or get over it and go back to where ever you were before you came back here. I don't want to see Derek lose any more family than he already has, but you have no right to come in here and judge him for the things that he has done, and the decisions he has made."

"Stiles, that's enough." His words are quite and subdued. My heart is racing but his is still steady as ever.

"You are really going to let him get away with that?" Cora looks on is disbelief. 

"There isn't much I could do to stop him if I wanted to. I want you here more than I can say, but it is up to you on whether or not you accept your place in the pack. Stiles is my second, you will have to respect that." He stands helping her up with him, then turns back to the window. "I understand though if you choose to leave." 

At that she storms out the door and slams it behind her.

The silence stretches on for a while before I am able to collect myself. "I'm sorry Derek. I didn't mean to be the reason you lose more family."

"It's not your fault, Stiles. What I said stands. You're my second, you were only doing your duty by defending me to a possible threat." He is so cold. Unfeeling. Like always, he is letting all the emotions he is feeling fester inside.

"Derek," I move closer to him laying a hand on his back, "you know it's more than that, don't you?" He sighs but doesn't say anything. He has to know. Moving in front of him I place my hand on his forearm. "I respect you Derek. I care about you. You are one of my closest friends. Seriously, I don't know how I would have made it this far without you." 

The tension seems to go out of him a little, but I can tell there are still doubts there. I would go at his sister again if I thought it would do any good, but now it is up to her to come around and realize that this is exactly where she should be. 

Later that night when the rest of the pack gets there, they tell us of the next grouping of three, the Warriors. That means that there will be more victims. Isaac says that there will most likely be five total. So that is nine more people to die. I don't like those odds. 

Oh, and is if dealing with an Alpha pack isn't enough, these ritual sacrifices are being done by a Darach. A dark druid. Yeah, cause one group of enemies wasn't enough to contend with. 

*****

Most of the pack takes to spending the night at the house now. Both for the feeling of pack, but also because we have a basement that is supernatural proof. The only ones that are left out are Allison, Lydia, Derek, and Cora. Allison's family has her and Lyds covered, but Derek refuses to leave Cora alone, and she has still been standoffish with the pack. 

But that changes one night. I'm not sure what was the final straw, but she just showed up with Derek in tow, and curled up with Erica on the couch in the basement. Derek still hasn't told me what happened between the two of them, but she is finally showing him the respect that he deserves. So as long as she doesn't cause any issues, I'm cool. 

True to the pattern, more people die at the hands of the Darach. Healers are targeted next and it takes the hospital by storm. Mostly because an actual storm hits when the murders happen. Danny ends up getting poisoned with mistletoe and it's only thanks to Ms. McCall's quick actions that he is still alive. Why he was targeted, we don't know, but Ethan, one of the wonder twins, was with him when the symptoms showed up. I don't think Danny is going to last much longer without finding out about everything. Even Jackson, who can tell that something is going on, has been relatively quiet about everything. I don't know if it's fear or Lydia that is the cause of this. Probably a fear of Lydia. They are still together, but their relationship seems more strained then it once was. 

It isn't until a few weeks later that things come to a head once again. The pack was out and making it's way to the loft when the Alphas decide to strike. Isaac puts up a barrier around himself and the girls. Allison takes out her hand-held crossbow, and starts giving cover fire. We are right outside the abandoned building the loft is in, but this is a somewhat deserted part of town, so there isn't anyone there to witness the fight. Derek takes on Ennis, Cora and Erica take Kali while Scott and Boyd go after the twins. At first I am frozen in what I should do, but then I see Deucalion standing there 'watching'. Really, how does a blind man watch? I dodge out of a swing from Kali, and launch myself over Derek and Ennis, making my way towards Duke. I want to test a few theories I have about this 'Alpha of Alphas'. Letting loose some fox fire I make sure to give a wide spread making it harder for him to evade. But sure enough not a single ball hits him. 

"So, not as blind as you proclaim to be? Is this why you say you're a man of vision?"

"Smart, a fox running with wolves, I have to say, I didn't see that coming."

"Ha, ha with the sight jokes. Get some better material."

"Young man, I don't think you quite know who you are dealing with."

"And I don't think you know who you're dealing with. You think that we are just some weak pack that can be picked off by the likes of you? Or that Derek would stoop so low so as to kill a member of his own pack?" I raise my finger and move it back and forth while tisking. "Here I was thinking you were smarter than that."

"And just how have I underestimated you?"

"We just so happen to have a treaty with the local Hunters. One of which, is a member of our pack. Then you add in the fact that we have some human law enforcement on our side, and it makes for a wicked combo. Not to mention of corse, myself." I let three more balls of electricity float in my hand, growing in size until the go from golf balls to the size of soccer balls. It takes quite a bit of energy on my part to do this, but then it is only a flick of the wrist and I release them into the air and let them take their targets. 

The pack jumps out of combat with their respective opponents and after the fire hits the Alphas, they all stagger. Its enough so that when the Hunters appear, the pack is grouped together away from them, and safe from the arrows and bullets that are flying through the air. Deucalion snarls at this. "This isn't over, fox. I will have what I want, or you will all pay the consequences." 

He doesn't stay to verbally spar any longer than that, and the Hunters are in hot pursuit. I know that they have been looking for thier hideout since we chased them out of the bank. But we will leave that to them. "Everyone okay?" Derek asks.

They all look like they went a few rounds with a blender and lost, but nothing that wont heal with a little time. Everyone starts to head upstairs, so I keep Derek back to talk to him. 

"We really need to figure out how we are going to deal with them, Derek. They are too strong to take on all at once. After that much fox fire I am almost drained. I don't know if I could pull it off again."

He pulls me in for a short hug. "I know. I think I have a plan, but I'm not sure how to implement it just yet."

"Care to share?"

"There is an eclipse coming up in a month or so. Do you know what happens during an eclipse?"

"You loose your strength."

"Yes, but we have allies, and you." I'm not really sure how this is going to work either, but at least it's a start. 

*****

Things continue to go downhill from there. They Alphas stay aggressive and The Darach makes the next group of targets Philosophers. Everything culminates when it tries to take Lydia and then finds out that she is a Banshee. But we do find out that the Darach is our new english teacher, Miss Blake. 

All of that is just about meaningless though. I couldn't stop her from taking my dad.

Since he was taken, I don't know what to do. I have had close calls with a few panic attacks, and Derek has been with me almost constantly. He seems to be the only one able to pull me out of my head. Once I get started it just doesn't stop. "You're doing it again."

"What, oh sorry."

"Stiles, we are going to get him back. I promise."

"Before or after she kills him? There is only one grouping left. Guardians. If she gets two more, then it will be too late, and not only will I have lost my father, but she will have amassed so much power, that there will be literally nothing we can do to stop her. We know that Deucalion is an impossibly strong Alpha, but the eclipse won't affect her. Just you guys.'

"I know that." He puts a hand on my shoulder, which i immediately shrug off. "Look, we know who we are looking for, now we just need to figure out where she is keeping them."

That's when Isaac comes through the door. "I think I might know where that is."

"Where?!" I am on my feet ready to go.

"The books your mom left talk about certain places of power. They can be a range of things, rock formation, lakes, even trees. I think that the preserve has one. There is an underlying power that flows through Beacon Hills. I think that is why the supernatural is drawn here."

"Okay, how do we find it?"

"I should be able to trace the lines back the origin."

"Good, lets go then."

"Stiles, wait." Derek steps in front of me. "We still have to deal with the Alpha pack. The eclipse is tomorrow night. If she is going to do this, then it won't happen until tomorrow."

"Why? Why would she wait that long?"

"I think she is after the Alphas. There is a power there that is similar to Isaac's, she might have been an emissary to one of them, and is trying to get her revenge."

"Derek, I can't wait that long. What if she doesn't wait. What if she kills him and we weren't there to stop her?"

"Stiles, you've told me to trust my insects and myself. This is what my gut is telling me. If we wait, we can take out the Alphas, and then the others can save your father."

"Scott's mother too. She was just taken." Isaac interrupts us. It seems that she knows that we are all connected to the preternatural. "But I think I have also found a way to bind her powers. The way she has been sacrificing, it is to this source of power. This Nematon. With they help of the supposed final sacrifices I can use all the power she has gained and turn it against her, stripping her of all the power she has."

"What will happen to the power after it's taken from her?" Derek looks curious and hesitant.

"It will stay locked within the Nematon."

"Will someone else be able to access it?"

"Yes, but if we keep watch over it, then we will be able to use ourselves should the need arise."

"Derek-" My voice cracks and he pulls me into a tight embrace.

"I know, I know."

*****

Waiting was the worst part, but now it right before the eclipse and Derek and I are at this old brewery outside of town with Duke and Kali. I'm not sure where Ennis, Ethan, or Aiden are, but Isaac and the Betas with the help of Allison and Lydia are out in the preserve somewhere looking for our parents. The final Guardian was Chris Argent. I would say the guy almost deserves it, but then I know that he is actually one of the more reasonable Hunters. 

"So, Derek, have you made a decision yet?"

"Yes, I have to decline your offer. I find the price to high to pay."

Kali tsks and shakes her head condescendingly. "How unfortunate. I suppose that means that we will just have to kill you instead."

"Really, what is it with you guys and your macabre? I mean come on, it's all death and gore with you. Can't you just accept that Derek doesn't want into your little werewolf club and move on?"

"I'm afraid that isn't one of the choices, young man. And if you think the impeding eclipse will be enough to deter us, you will be sadly mistaken."

Kali launches herself forward and I hurl a few balls of fox fire at her to make her change paths and allow Derek to confront Deucalion head on. Kali guns for me after that, and it take all of my speed and energy just to avoid getting struck down by a powerful blow. Her fighting skills are far surpassed mine and I can't even think about getting in close enough to land a blow. 

Eventually I do find an opening and kick up into the air using her leg and shoulder as stepping stones. Flipping and laying myself out mid-air, I generate a large spread of fix fire and let her rise right into the middle of it. She thought that following me up would be a good idea, instead she is set aflame much like Peter was, and i let it consume her. Knowing that this won't be enough to kill her, I pull out a few of the throwing daggers that Allison gave me, and throw them straight into her heart. 

Killing is what I wanted to do. I know that her face will join Peter's and Gerard's in my nightmares, but I couldn't let her go on terrorizing us any longer. 

Landing from my jump, I pull myself together only to hear the end of Derek's and Deucalion's fight. They each have a hand in the other's chest and as they fall apart, I can tell that neither of them will survive. They are both so torn up and bleeding so much that there is no way they will live. 

Rushing to Derek's side I can feel the tears in my eyes. "Derek!"

He studders a bit, as I catch him before he hits the floor. His wieght is too much and I have to set him down, but I refuse to let him go. "S-stiles." He has a smile on his face, even though he has to be in so much pain. 

"Derek. You can't do this. I can't lose you too." He struggles, but manages to bring a hand up to cup my cheek and rubs his thumb under my eye.

"Take care of them." His breathing is slowing, and I can't take this. I can't let him go. Not when I have the power to stop this. All it takes is a thought and a force of will and my tail appears in my hand. Derek looks at me with almost fear in his eyes, as if he knows what I am about to do. "St-stiles, n-no. y-you can't."

I kiss his forehead. "I have to. I won't lose you."

Snapping the blade is easier than I though it would be. When it breaks I push all of it's power into Derek willing him to live. I know what I am sacrificing, but it is worth it. I can't let him go. 

Derek sucks in a deep breath as if he was finally able to breath for the first time, while I can feel the power ebbing from me. Not only am I losing my imortality, but I am losing all of my powers. I am becoming mortal and all that entails it. 

Right as the last bit is about to slip away, there is a bright flash of green and the smell of crushed leaves in the fall with the scent of freshly bloomed flowers. Hovering in the air above me is a blade almost identical to the one I just broke. "You earned another tail." Derek sounds almost awed.

"But, how? I'm only sixteen."

"Kitsune don't just earn tails through age. Gaining one is a sign of spiritual growth. By sacrificing your tail for me, you earned yourself another." I don't really know what to say. I was fully prepared to become mortal. "How could you risk everything for me? Why would you do that?"

"There's what I know, Derek, and then there's you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay,so I feel really bad. It has been three months since I updated, and I really don't feel that this chapter is up to par. I have kinda lost my inspiration, but I am going to try and finish this even if it kills me. The sad thing is I know exactly how things are going to play out and all I have to do is write it. My job is crazy hours, and I still don't have a laptop, so I am not in the same writing space I usually am. 
> 
> There are so many things going on in the chapter, but I don't feel like I covered them as well as I could have. I know that things are kind of rushed, but this is also the season of the show that I had the fewest plans for. Mostly becuase Derek and Jennifer never get together, and no one dies. 
> 
> There will be a bit more to go. two maybe three chapters. Hopefully it won't take me three months to get out. Sorry again, but let me know what you think. Even if you don't like it.


	13. One Life Ending and Another Begining

After that is when things start going perfectly and all to shit all at the same time. Most of that time is hazy at best, but other parts I remember vividly. 

My little confession put out there how I feel about Derek, and he has somewhat acknowledged his feelings towards me. That is one of the fuzy parts unfortunately, all I know is that we went from just being really close friends, to friends that kiss and cuddle occasionally. But he is adamant that nothing happen between us until I am eighteen and legal. At first I wanted to fight him on that, I was almost seventeen at the time, and knew what I wanted. But then I remembered what happened to him at my age. How a woman came into his life, making him feel what he thought was love, and then destroyed everything around him. 

He was/is nothing like Kate, and I was/am not as unaware of the cruelties of life, but this is something major for him, so I have respected his boundaries. Those times are the most hazy, and I hate that.

The pack was thriving, everyone was really coming into their own. Scott was calmer about the whole werewolf business, Cora was making an effort to be a part of the pack, Isaac was leaning more about his magic, Boyd was opening up more to everyone, Lydia wasn't hiding behind her walls, Erica was just as snarky, and Derek was finally letting go of the demons that have been haunting him for too many years. Jackson has slowly started to make a place for himself in the pack too, he is a bit kinder, and is only his usual level of asshole. Overall, it's good for him. Of course I had to go and ruin that. 

With everything calmer, the pack started to spend less time around casa de Stilinski, so when the nightmares started back up again, no one was there to witness them besides Dad. Derek knew that they were there, but he like my father, thought that it was just the continuation of the ones Peter and Gerard had instilled in me. And to some degree that was true with Kali's face entering in here and there. But for the most part, my night terrors have been taking a different turn. A darker one. One where I am the one killing people and had the pack dead at my feet. As if seeing the pack dead around me wasn't enough, now I was the cause of their deaths. 

Then the sleep walking started. At first it was just to the bathroom or down the hall. Once it started taking me down the stairs and out side, I started sleeping in the basement locked in by mountain ash. Dad started to ask too many questions, so I just told him that I was thinking of moving my room down to the bigger space. He didn't really buy it, but didn't push me too much for answers either. Having to wake your son up from screaming in his sleep a few nights a week was starting to worry him more than he would have liked to say. 

The nightmares made getting any restful sleep almost impossible. The pack noticed, so I came up with excuses about studying and researching other supernatural creatures. Knowing that there were a few others in town helped to sell this point, but Derek and Erica weren't buying my bullshit. Erica never called me on it in front of the others, but once she had me alone, it was worse than Derek's interrogations. I got her off my back finally when I told her that I would try better to sleep and not let the nightmares bother me. 

It was a truth, but not one that was made easy. It was started to get harder knowing if I was awake or asleep. I started counting my fingers as a way to tell. Then written words stopped making sense. Now there is a voice that seems to haunt my dreams and my waking moments. I can't ignore it either. The more I try, the louder it gets. 

"Stiles..."

This time I am shut up in my bathroom. I've counted my fingers but I can't keep the numbers in my head. 

"...Stiles...Let me in..."

Rocking back and forth, trying to stop the sobs that are wrecking my chest, and wiping the tears away is all can do to stave off answering the rasping voice.

"Stiles...When is a door not a door?"

"Stop, just stop."

"Stiles, when is a door not a door?"

"Stop, please, just stop."

"Stiles! When is a door not a door?"

"I can't." my voice gets quieter while his gets louder.

"STILES! WHEN IS A DOOR NOT A DOOR!"

Finally I scream out, "When it's ajar!"

The voice starts laughing and the next thing I know, I'm out side standing by this large tree stump in the middle of the preserve. The Nematon. Isaac told me that this is where my dad was held by the Darach. That this is the thing she was sacrificing all those innocent people to for the power she craved to destroy Deucalion. Suddenly I know what is happening to me. My mother fought an evil spirit and with the last of her strength, sealed it here. It was only by some miracle that she made it home so that Dad and I could say our goodbyes before she died. 

But how did it escape. The power that was sacrificed to the tree was never released. Nothing else happened that night except...

"Yes, Stiles. You broke your tail. You broke your tail giving me the perfect opportunity to slip in and make my self at home before your power came back to you. I've waited five years to get my revenge for being trapped here. Unfortunately, the one who imprisoned me is gone, but she left behind someone that I can use to finish what I started. Thank you, Stiles. Now sit back and enjoy the ride."

***

Things started happening that I couldn't stop. The Void kept up the illusion that everything was normal, and that I was finally getting better. The nightmares stopped, and Dad was so relieved that he didn't think to question why. I can't blame him, the whole situation was stressful for him, and the Void was a very convincing actor. Even the pack was oblivious that anything was wrong. The Nogistune preyed on my fears of him hurting the pack. Made comments about how easy it would be to just start taking them out, one by one. Begging and pleading with him only caused him to laugh and taunt me further. 

Derek was the only one who grew suspicious. He was always more attuned to others and their small quirks. As much as the void tried to be me, there were certain things that he couldn't quite pull off. The love that I had for Derek was one of them. The subtle looks that only Derek noticed, the quite way we would lean on each other during a pack meeting, the fether-light kisses that would happen before we left each other's company. The Void couldn't manage to get all of those nuances of our relationship. So it covered it up with impatience. It was a very 'Stiles' thing and it worked for a few days, but Derek knew that I respected him too much to try and go further than he was comfortable with. Too bad for the Void that he was impatient for better results. 

Instead of trying to fool Derek, the Nogistune started to avoid him. He still attended pack meetings, gave small bits of affection, but kept his distance. Basically sending hot and cold messages to Derek about how I feel for him. This only went further to hurt me and make the Void happy. 

Nogistune feed on strife and chaos. He started to cause small fights between pack members, always giving just enough truth to avoid lying, but not being honest at the same time. It is a carefully crafted art of lying to werewolves, and he knew that. All Kitsune are tricksters, and the Void is in a class of it's own. The hardest part was just siting back and watching all of the turmoil he was causing and not being able to do a damn thing about it. 

The only time I gained any semblance of control was at night when the Void slept. I would only have seconds sometimes before he woke and took over again, but I relished each moment, and started to retreat and withdraw in my mind to plan a way to stop him. 

There was only one way that I knew of. One way that would completely stop him from causing any more damage. It wasn't a road I wanted to go down, but it was the only one I could see. There was no way for me to send out a message to the others to let them know that I wasn't myself, no way for me to do anything other than end it all. 

There was a place out in the woods where a truck was wrecked a few years ago, and there was no way for a tow truck to get out there and get it. So instead they placed a type of poison around the place to keep wild animals away. Not one of my more thought out plans, but if that poison is still there, and I am able to get out there and keep the Void from gaining control, then I can take both of us out before it knows what's happened. 

So when I'm not trying to take control, I keep myself withdrawn. This starts to piss off the Void though. His entertainment from my pain and suffering is no longer there. Even though I still know everything he is doing, I am no longer reacting to him. 

This causes him to take his game further. From subtle manipulation to outright hurting others. Seeing as I never quite the lacrosse team, he started to hurt the other players in ways that wouldn't be able to be pinned on me. Tripping them, shoulder slams, and in a few cases doing things at a speed that others no one would be attributing to me. 

Through all of this, Derek is still the only one who notices that things aren't quite right. Unfortunately every time he tries to approach the topic with the Void, he is shut down or the Void talks his way around the subject. stating half truths and ecading saying anything that would cause further suspicion. 

It takes me a few weeks, but finally I am able to gain small bursts of control. So in the middle of the night, I decide that it's time. I make sure that the Void is well asleep, then slip into the reins. All I can do is leave a note for the others. As I write, I realize that I am writing a suicide note. There is a part of me says it's okay, that I am ready to die. The fact that I am calm and collected says a lot to my metal state. I can only hope that my dad and the pack can forgive me.

It takes me about an hour to get out of the house and into the preserve to the right location, but once I do, I hunker down in the abandoned car letting the poison do it's work. 

By the time the Nogistune notices that there is something wrong, it is too late. The poison has already taken some effect and my body is too weak to move. A few houirs have passed and he screams in fear and anger as to what is happening. "You thought you could win. You were wrong."

His scream increases in volume, and all I can do is laugh. Our roles have been reversed. "This isn't over, Stiles. Not yet."

"Yes it is. No one knows where I am, no one is coming to save me. We are both done for. There is nothing you can do about it."

"What get's bigger the more you take away?"

"What? Really, more riddles?"

"Just answer me. What get's bigger the more you take away?"

"A hole." 

"What get's wetter the more it dries?"

"A towel. Why does this matter? It's too late."

"Everyone has it but no one can lose it, what is it?" I don't answer. This is stupid.

"Stiles! Everyone has it, but no one can lose it?"

Knowing that this is going to get me nowhere, I relent. "A shadow."

"Yes! And do you know that we have had a shadow the last few weeks? Or were you so withdrawn the entire time that you didn't notice that we had one following our every move. One that would check up on us at night to make sure that we were nicely tucked away in our bed. No, I bet you didn't. Tsk, tsk, Stiles. Now our shadow is here."

That is when I feel a hand wrapped around my torso, dragging me out of the car, dragging me out of what was supposed to be my final resting place. All I can do is scream. "No, Derek! Let me go!"

"Stiles, I need to get you out of here." His voice sounds far off. I know that it's the poison addling my senses. I can't fight him, I can't do anything. 

"Derek, you have to let me die. I'm not me. I'm not me!" Things start to go black then, and I know that I am out of time. 

***

When I come to next, I am in a hospital room with an IV hooked up to me, and there is a weight at the end of my bed. Dad is sitting in the chair with his head resting on the bed. All I can think is how this was supposed to be over. This was going to be done. But now, he can just hurt more people. 

"Not me, Stiles. You did this all on your own."

This time, he's right. I did this. But what other way is there? I can't let this spirit do any more harm than he already has. 

"If you thought I was harming others before, you haven't seen anything yet. I think I am getting tired of playing this role. It's time for a little more fun."

I don't know what that means, but I have to stop him. 

Silently, he crawls out of bed and takes the stack of clothes that were sitting off to the side waiting for me. He dresses in silence, then walks out of the room and into the hallway. There aren't many people there, but once he sees one, it takes only a second for him to rush toward them and snap their neck. 

I am screaming, but he is the only one that can hear me. He walks down the hallway like he has all the time in the world, killing one person after the other. Their deaths are quiet so no one is alerted to his presence until it is too late. 

By the time he makes it to the elevator, he has killed at least a dozen people. "Stiles, this is only the beginning."

***

I don't remember a lot of what happened after that. I tried to keep myself withdrawn so that I wouldn't know what the Void was doing, but there were moments where I couldn't stay away. 

There are a few that stand out though. 

Standing in the middle of the loft with Allison, Chris, Derek, and my dad is one of them. Chris and my father have guns pointed at me, Allsion her bow, and Derek looking like he is helpless to stop them. He tries to advance on me, but the Nogistune throws him agaisnt a pillar and then faces off with Chris. He taunts my dad, but Allison is smarter than that, and she uses on of her flash arrows to distract the Void, which causes him to retreat. I know at some point he uses his powers to make the others go a bit insane for a while, but all of them come out of it in the end, and that pisses him off to no end. 

The last memory I have of him while being possessed to this point is thrusting a sword through Derek's chest. The whole time the Void is trying to get a rise out of him and me, but the only thing Derek does is try to calm me. He says things like 'It's okay', and 'We are going to figure this out'. If I could talk to him I would tell him how much I care about him. That I love him. But the Void just gets angrier that we aren't doing what he wants. 

Thankfully that is when Isaac appears and injects me with a syringe that almost instantly knocks us out. It must be Letharia Vulpina. "Looks like they might be ending this right now."

"NO! I will not be finished like this."

"Too bad, you don't really have a choice in the matter." Everything goes black as I am laughing. 

***

When we wake up it is to Derek and Isaac talking about five feet away from me, while we are tied to a chair. It looks like the train depot where the pack has trained a few times, dark, musty, and a little dirty. They have duct tape over my mouth so I can't talk, not that I am the one who is in control anyway. All I am able to do is listen to their conversation. 

"I've looked through all the books that Stiles's mom had, and Lydia has tried to find an answer in the Argent bestiary, and online, but nothing says what this is, or how to get it out of Stiles." Isaac sounds so lost and on the verge of tears. "I don't know how to help him."

Derek lays a hand on Isaac's shoulder. "It's okay. You are doing your best. That's all we can ask."

"NO! We have to find a way to free him! There has to be a way."

"Is there a way that we can suppress whatever it is so we can talk to Stiles?"

"Maybe, with the right combination of Letharia Vulpina and Mistletoe it should be possible."

"Okay, maybe Stiles can tell us how to help him." Derek is always smarter than the others give him credit for. I wish that I could be around longer to see the kind of man he really becomes after a few years of being the Alpha.

It takes a little while to get the concoction ready, but before I know it, there is another needle going into my arm and I can feel the Void being paralyzed long enough for me to take over. As soon as they take the tape off I am telling them what the Nogistune is. 

"Is there any way for us to get rid of it? Any way to save you?"

Derek has tears welling behind his eyes that he won't let fall. So strong. "Yeah, there is. But you won't like it." No one says anything, so I continue. "I can't be a wolf and a fox. Only one. If I were to receive the bite, it would force the Void to leave my body, when it does, you can trap it in a jar made out of mountain ash." I look towards Isaac, "I'm pretty sure my mom had one with her things."

"What happens to you?" Derek's voice is rough and full of emotion. I can't help but turn back to him.

"That doesn't matter. We can't let this thing do any more damage. It has to be stopped."

"It's going to kill you isn't it? You can't be both so your body will reject the bite, and it'll kill you." 

I don't take my eyes off of Derek. "Yeah, Isaac. It will kill me."

"No. I won't do it. I won't kill you too."

"Sourwolf, if I get to pick how I want to go, then this is it. You aren't to blame, and you won't be the one to kill me. That will all be the Void."

"That's not the way it will feel as my teeth sink into your flesh." Silent tears start to stream down his face. "I can't lose you too. I couldn't bare it."

"I know, but this is the way it has to be. If you don't then he will be able to come back, then you will either have to fight him while wearing my face, or let him kill you too. And you can't do that cause you have too many people relying on you now. You can't give up. I love you too much for you to do that." It's the first time either of us has said the 'L' word, but he knows that there is no skip in my heartbeat, that I'm not just saying this for his benefit, he knows I am saying it because its true. 

"Stiles, there's so much I haven't gotten to tell you." He crouches down and holds my face in his hands. "You're not just pack, you're my mate. You're the one that keeps me grounded, my anchor, my reason to keep getting up in the morning. I love you too much to let you go, to watch you die."

"Mate? That's a real thing? Of course this would be my life, find a guy that I would sacrifice my immortality for, all to just lose it because some stupid ass Spirit had to get revenge for being put in his place." It makes Derek let out a watery laugh though so my rant isn't a bad thing. 

"Yeah, so I can't go losing you now."

The tears that were welling in my eyes finally begin to fall. "Derek, you will lose me if you don't get rid of this thing. I'll always be with you, but if the Void is allowed to survive who knows who else it will hurt. I love you, but you have to let me go. You have to be brave and selfless one more time. For me."

Isaac rests his hand on Derek's shoulder and then walks up the stairs to leave us alone while this happens. We are both crying as Derek rests his forehead on mine. "I love you."

I can't help it. "I know." It's said with a watery laugh and I kiss him for the last time unable to say everything it is I feel. He stares into my eyes for a few moments longer before pulling away the neck of my shirt and sinking his fangs into my shoulder. 

Not wanting to make this any harder on him, I hold iin my cry of pain. It hurts, and when he pulls away, I can feel the changes already starting. The Wolf that wants to take hold is waring with the Fox that is already in residence. Before too long, it hurts too much to keep silent. Derek is there leaching away pain but he can only do so much for someone who is slowly being killed by his own body. 

The last thing I hear is the I love you's he whispers into my hair as he cradles my body in his strong arms as everything goes black. 

***

When I come too again, I am standing at the base of a giant tree. It seems familiar too me. The scent of the woods, and the sounds that surround me remind me of the preserve. 

There is movement from the trees behind me, and I turn to be met with a person I didn't think I would ever see again. "Mom."

She is wearing a long, flowing, silvery gown and her chocolate hair is gently moving with breeze that is blowing through the trees. She looks exactly like she did when she died. Beautiful and ethereal. "Hello Genim."

Stumbling forward I wrap my arms around her and hold tight, trying to take in every detail. "Mom, how-" And that's when I realize what is going on. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Well that has yet to be determined."

Pulling away I give her a speculative look. "What does that mean? I couldn't have survived the bite. I can't be a Wolf and a Fox at the same time."

"No, but you can be one or the other."

"Right, I am a Fox so I can't be a Wolf."

"But that doesn't mean you can't become a Wolf." As my head tries to wrap around that logic, her hand comes up to caress my face. "I am so proud of the man you have become. Know that."

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"You may not know what I mean, but your subconscious does. It is already making the decision for you. Keep living your life. I love you."

And everything goes white.

*** 

The next time I come to I am in my bed surrounded by the pack. Derek is wrapped around me and it's then that I realize, I can't be a Fox and a wolf, but I can choose to be a Wolf instead. Things are going to be a different kind of interesting now that I don't have the same set of abilities. But I have my pack and Derek, so I think overall, I made out okay. Growing up as a fox alone worked for me, living as a wolf with a family is going to be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this isn't how I orginally wanted this to end. I had more planned for after Stiles became a wolf, but I just don't have the inspiration to work on this story anymore. As it is, I have left you guys hanging for quite a few months. For that I am sorry. I knew I would finish this story, I just didn't think it would take this long. 
> 
> So to tie up a few loose ends, here are some facts for you.
> 
> -Derek finally got a nickname that stuck. Raven. Both becuase Raven and Beast Boy were together in the comics, but also becuase Derek's personality was much like hers. I thought it was cute, and it fit.   
> -Stiles freaks out on Derek a little when he remembers the Mate comment. Now that he is a wolf he can feel it too, and after being mad at him for hiding it, they make up and live happilie ever after.  
> -Stiles as a wolf still holds some of his Fox-like tendancies. He can be a bit of a loner sometimes, is the fastest of all of them, has exceptioal hearing, while still being somewhat physically weaker. It does take him a while to learn control, but once he does, only Derek and Boyd are better than he and controling the wolf side of themsleves.   
> -Jackson eventually gets the bite and joins the pack becoming less of a D-bag in the process. 
> 
> I can't think of anything else, but if you guys have any questions let me know! I will be more than happy to answer them for you.
> 
> Lastly, thank you to everyone who stuck this out with me. I know that I let things slide and the ending wasn't as good as I would have liked, but I am happy with the end result. 
> 
> I am going to be working on a few other stories, but from now on I will not post them unless they are finished so that I don't run into this problem again. 
> 
> Thanks again, let me know what you thought of this story as a whole!
> 
> Until next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I have the next chapter written, and the one after that started. I have been putting this off for so long now that I felt I needed to post something. I hope that this will give me the drive to keep writing and not let me slack off any more. I know where I want the story to go, I have some great one-liners planned, and a few plot twists that I hope you won't see coming. 
> 
> Thanks to all my continued supporters, Anywhere Place just went over 20,000 views, and I am both shocked and amazed that it has gotten that many. So thank you for your continuing support in my works. 
> 
> And as always, please, please, please, leave me your feedback and comments. I love to hear what you guys have to say, good or bad(Mostly good!). It helps me come up with new ideas, and keeps my inspiration flowing. Plus I like to know that you guys like what I am putting out there. So please don't be afraid to tell me what you think!


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